(From Pininterest)
Monday, June 27, 2011
A few thoughts on exodus
10 plagues occured before passover therefore God gave pharaoh fair warning of their sin. Pharaoh also repented several times - but he always turned back to his sinful ways - which were standing in the way of God's plan...
Moses' staff turning to a snake, the river nile to blood & the plague of frogs were all able to be duplicated by the 'black magicians' of Egypt. But beyond this they became powerless and even they admitted the greater power of Moses's God.
Moses God was not only greater than the Egyptian's God, but He was the same God of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph.
It was God who put Moses in his place - 'I'll make you as a god to pharaoh". This is the Pharaoh who already has thousands of gods - so God gives him one more; but this one is different. Pharaohs are considered by their people as half man/half God. So when God made Moses a 'god', he was 'promoting' Moses of sorts, making him more powerful.
~Originally written 26th April
Moses' staff turning to a snake, the river nile to blood & the plague of frogs were all able to be duplicated by the 'black magicians' of Egypt. But beyond this they became powerless and even they admitted the greater power of Moses's God.
Moses God was not only greater than the Egyptian's God, but He was the same God of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph.
It was God who put Moses in his place - 'I'll make you as a god to pharaoh". This is the Pharaoh who already has thousands of gods - so God gives him one more; but this one is different. Pharaohs are considered by their people as half man/half God. So when God made Moses a 'god', he was 'promoting' Moses of sorts, making him more powerful.
~Originally written 26th April
Part 4 (20 April)
Godcrastination! (For those of you who don't know, this is an accumulation of all the blogs that I sort through my google-reader account. After a week away from my laptop, a few have built up - aka 180. This is probably going to be a long one ...)
First of all - found this in the school newsletter!!!!!
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Then there's this 2 cents on attitude ...
"What phrases do you use in consolation? Imagine that you have some bad news to tell:
My credit cards have been stolen, they’ve cleared out my bank account… How do you finish that sentence?
…still, worse things happen at sea
… serves me right for being so careless
… I suppose I’m just cursed
… oh well, mustn’t grumble
… I guess I should count my blessings
… but people in Africa are starving
… at least I have my health
… such is life
Whatever we tack onto the end of our stories of suffering gives a little window onto our theology of suffering. Yet none of the lines above are a Christian response to suffering.
Recently, though, I heard a wonderful line. It came from a woman suffering from terminal cancer. How would you finish a sentence that begins “I have 6 months to live”? She said, “…Still, nothing a resurrection won’t fix.” Now that’s Christian consolation ... "
(The King's English)
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The weekly installment of 20 grace tweets from Scotty Smith:
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re aware of the racist that lives in you, not just in the Bubbas & rednecks near you.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You waste less food & time, and your committed giving is becoming cheerful giving.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You think about fixing people less and loving them more.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your family and friends can relax around you more than they did last year.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’ve given up trying to be the 4th member of the Trinity.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You will do everything you can NOT to do unnecessary damage to a person’s reputation.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Prayer walks are yielding as much satisfaction as shopping sprees, maybe more.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You enjoy, but you don’t flaunt Christian liberty. Act like you been there before.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t violate confidences. You can be trusted with the brokenness of others.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Lent is not a season for navel-gazing introspection but cross-surveying celebration.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t do penance to impress Jesus; you do repentant faith which unites you to Jesus.
A sign you’re growing in grace: What you are behind the steering wheel is a demonstration of the power of the gospel.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your identity is MORE tied to who you are in Christ than to your Myers-Briggs profile.
A sign you’re growing in grace: People are rarely offended by how tied you are to your cell phone or laptop.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your use of caller ID reflects your commitment to love well, not simply avoid people.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You take way less time getting dressed each morn & the main thing you put on is Christ.
A sign you’re growing in grace: The time lapse between the Spirit’s convicting and your repenting is much shorter.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t have to form an opinion about everything, nor a need to always share yours.
A sign you’re growing in grace: The word “godliness” makes you think about what Jesus has done for you, not vice versa.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re learning to repay good for evil without being self-righteous or pious about it.
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Not for me, not for me
In darkened sky, in stormy day
the clouds like night did pass my way
and rolling waves like armies strong
my small ship, it towed along.
It threat’ned to drag me beneath
and plunge my soul in bitt’rest grief
till to the Lord I cried in tears,
“Didst Thou unshackle my worst of fears:
to no longer close Thy Spirit know,
to feel my God had let me go?”
Holding my heart in pieces broke
and shattered prayers for peace and hope,
I cried to God amid the storm,
“Will Thou now judge this wicked worm?
For I know my own sin all too well
I know that I am fit for hell.”
And then a voice in the crashing thunder
declared, to rip the earth asunder
“O foolish child, did you not know?
Did you not see, were you not told?
This storm for you is not my wrath
and yet you crossed into its path
for on Calvary, in My True Son -
in My Servant, Christ, My will was done.
He took the burden of your sin
your every debt was charged to Him.
And I have given you this sign:
the tree of wood - the Cross I designed
to help you know in every trial
that though you bear a little while
this light, momentary, passing grief,
in the storm you may find relief.
Because Jesus bore My wrath in full
this angry storm is not for you,
who in His name are counted just
if in Christ you did fully trust.
Why then doubt My love for you
though stormy weather life takes you through
remember this, that since Christ bore
all wrath for sin, there is no more.
So suffer now and soon then, see
the eternal weight of heav’n’s glory -
a perfect clime, a gentler place
a home divine in every grace.
In earth made new where fears are stilled
and Death itself will there be killed.
Rest in the vessel I did provide,
rest in the wind and rain of mine
rest in the fellowship upon thy boat
rest in the words that I have spoke.”
And then with rain upon my face
I raised my voice and praised His grace
and in the howling storm I sang,
and singing loud, I sang again:
“Not for me, not for me -
Hallelujah!
God’s holy wrath is not for me!”
~More than watchman wait for the morning
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hehehe ... :) My thoughts exactly!
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(GirlTalk)
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Though I've sent it to some of you before ... God smiling @ me while I stressed over the english exam. Can you see the smiley face??
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“The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.” ~ Tim Keller
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“The Old Testament is a foreign book, they do things differently there. Burning bushes and staffs that turn into snakes, arks and animals and a menagerie afloat. Dead animals and bullocks, rams and thickets, slavery in Egypt, bronze serpents, man and mourning. Pillars of fire, columns of smoke, a convoluted history of conquests and kings, intrigue, adultery, murder, incest, and frankly, a preoccupation with bodily fluids. Bears who eat boys, boys who kill giants, prophets who taunt idolaters, prophets who throw fits, prophets who sit by gates and weep. Poetry that reads like praise, and poetry that reads like existentialist philosophy, Persian writing on walls, foreign kings who roam like beasts and a prostitute who hides spies. Spies who lose heart, women who summon courage, donkeys that talk, and a strong man who commits suicide. Stuttering leaders, naked patriarchs and majestic praise. Predictive prophecy, lamentation, law, statute, and ordinance, in all of its glory. And all of it revealing Christ, every bit of it. They do things differently there and that’s the point isn’t it? All these things anticipate Christ. All these things point to Christ. All rightly making us yearn for Christ. They should all make us recognize the Christ. “These are they that testify of Me.”
Albert Mohler at The Gospel Coalition 2011, on the foreignness of the Old Testament, “they do things differently there”. (Sermon: Studying the Scriptures and Finding Jesus)
Lol. But true. Imagine if ... well any of the stories happened today. What would the world's reaction be? Better yet, what would our reaction be? Life would be amazing, but also very quickly overwhelming if we followed a pillar of smoke and fire ... it's an interesting thought.
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Since the Fall
I don’t want to see any more broken hearts. Hearts were meant for loving.
I don’t want to see any more natural disasters that rob lives. The earth was meant for flourishing and fruit-bearing for human blessing.
I don’t want to see any more unfulfilled dreams and crushed hopes. Dreams and hopes were meant to point us to God.
I don’t want to see any more lonely people in this very crowded world. People were meant for community and love.
I don’t want to see any more people spiritually dead to the Word. Revelation and salvation were meant for glory.
I don’t want to see any more crying. Eyes were meant for seeing.
I don’t want to see any more disappointed lives, locked in cycles of endless wondering, “what if”. Life was meant for worship.
I don’t want to see any more degenerative diseases in bodies. The body was meant for a dwelling.
I don’t want to see any more sick young people. Youth was meant for delight.
I don’t want to see any more conflict in families. Families were meant for blessing.
I don’t want to see second guessing, doubts, exhausting questions and unfulfilled expectations, or the aborted hopes and aspirations abandoned simply out of fear. Love was meant as a gift.
I don’t want to see any more fear. Fear was meant for reverence.
I don’t want to see any more people tired and burdened with work, with chores. Work was meant for stewardship.
I don’t want to see unresponsive love. Love was meant for reciprocity.
I don’t want to see men struggling with lust and with purity. Sex was meant for marriage.
I don’t want to see any more struggles for meaning. Meaning was meant for truth.
I don’t want to see any more people with the ‘chip’ on the shoulder, the insecure, something-to-prove angst that lurks beneath angry, bitter people.
I don’t want to to see any more of the curse.
...
No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:3-4 ESV)
~ more than watchmen wait for the morning
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Between arrival and anticipation - I can relate to this.
Will I know it has arrived
When it does?
Was I dead to it
Until it came
Which would explain why I started thinking about it
But not before I knew it had come.
If it’s not arrived
Will I still bother when I thought it came?
Or has it not come yet -
Which just means I’m not bothering
If it isn’t here yet.
So perhaps it was better
When I was unbothered and dead to it
Since it has not yet come
Or came.
~ more than watchmen wait for the morning
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The Misunderstood Pascal's Wager ~ Hmm ... interesting. I'm familiar with Pascal's wager but unfamiliar with any other interpretation. Thoughts anyone??
(from Unconfusing by denise)
At New Word Alive, we were fortunate enough to attend a few seminars by Carl Trueman from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. One of the seminars was about Blaise Pascal and his writings about God; in particular, how he wrote about the tendency of people to distract themselves from the deeper questions of life and death with trivial entertainment.
He also talked about Pascal's wager, and how it is commonly misunderstood as an argument for faith in God because the consequences of not believing in God, in the event of God's existence, are too great.
However, to interpret Pascal's writings in such a way, Trueman argued, would firstly assert that Pascal was rather unfamiliar with Paul's writings in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Christ was not raised from the dead, we are to be pitied above all men. Secondly, it was simply inconsistent with the rest of Pascal's writings. Rather, Trueman suggests that Pascal was revealing the moral underpinnings of mankind's disbelief in God.
Pascal notes that human beings normally make decisions rationally, playing the percentage game in life, making decisions according to which choice is most likely to yield the best result. Yet, in the area of religion, people often choose not to believe in God—despite the consequences in the event that God exists and that God chooses to punish unbelief with eternal death. Pascal thus suggests that the reason for unbelief is not a rational one but a moral one.
Pascal's wager is not a call to 'play it safe' by believing in God and using him as fire insurance. It is an apologetic that demonstrates mankind's opposition to God as moral and not purely rational.
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You Are Our Hope ~I like the lyrics ... be more powerful with the melody though I think...
Sovereign Grace
Comfort for weary sinners
Strength for the struggling saint
Jesus Christ has risen from the grave
Peace when the waves are pounding
When voices of hope sound faint
Jesus Christ has risen from the grave
How can grief remain when our Savior reigns?
You are our hope You are our joy
You are our overcoming King
So we sing “Hallelujah, Jesus is alive!”
Risen from death ascended on high
Glorious by the Father’s side
So we sing “Hallelujah, Jesus is alive!”
Power to fight temptation
The world and the devil’s lies
Jesus Christ has risen from the grave
Purpose in all our suffering
And joy that will never die
Jesus Christ has risen from the grave
How can grief remain when our Savior reigns
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A disturbing event
from Of First Importance
“There is an element in the Gospel narratives that stresses that the coming of Jesus is a disturbing event of the deepest proportions. It had to be thus, for He did not come merely to add something extra to life, but to deal with our spiritual insolvency and the debt of our sin. He was not conceived in the womb of Mary for those who have done their best, but for those who know that their best is ‘like filthy rags’ (Isa. 64:6) — far from good enough — and that in their flesh there dwells no good thing (Rom. 7:18). He was not sent to be the source of good experiences, but to suffer the pangs of hell in order to be our Savior.”
— Sinclair B. Ferguson
In Christ Alone
(Orlando, Fl.: Reformation Trust, 2007), 17
Different Perspective ... but though it may be 'disturbing' I know that my need for the cross would make me incredibly uncomfortable in phrasing it this way.
Somehow depicting one of the most important events in our human history as a 'disturbing' event as doesn't sit comfortable with me.
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“For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:10
http://theresurgence.com/2011/04/11/finding-strength-in-your-weakness
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(unconfusing)
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11 Ways to Find Your Idols
from The Resurgence by Mike Anderson
Find your idols
Idols are sneaky. They tip toe past our brains, set up shop in a corner of our heart, and begin to grow. Most of the time we don’t even notice because we’ve fallen in love with the idol—it’s become part of what drives us and makes us (momentarily) happy.
Recently Jared Wilson blogged about 11 diagnostic questions that David Powlison asks to find people’s idols. I just sent everyone in my community group this list of questions because I want to help build a culture of asking deep heart level questions, applying the Gospel to life, and seeking Christ together.
Here are the questions:
1. What do I worry about most?
2. What, if I failed or lost it, would cause me to feel that I did not even want to live?
3. What do I use to comfort myself when things go bad or get difficult?
4. What do I do to cope? What are my release valves? What do I do to feel better?
5. What preoccupies me? What do I daydream about?
6. What makes me feel the most self-worth? Of what am I the proudest? For what do I want to be known?
7. What do I lead with in conversations?
8. Early on what do I want to make sure that people know about me?
9. What prayer, unanswered, would make me seriously think about turning away from God?
10. What do I really want and expect out of life? What would really make me happy?
11. What is my hope for the future?
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“The lessons of the cross are ones we never outgrow, for the further we go the deeper we get.”
— Rebecca Pippert
Hope Has Its Reasons
(New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1989), 159
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“God redeemed us in his Son so that he might love us and delight in us even as he loves and delights in his eternal Son. Adoption is God’s act of making room within his triune love for prodigals who are without hope, and providing them with homes in this world and the world to come.”
— Dan Cruver
Reclaiming Adoption
(Adelphi, Md.: Cruciform Press, 2011), 14
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“What I say I believe and know about Jesus is only meaningful when I put it into action through service.”
— Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp
Change and Your Relationships: A Mess Worth Making
(Greensboro, NC.: New Growth Press, 2009), 95
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“The fight is not the oppressive struggle to earn God’s final rest, but the satisfying struggle to rest in the peace that Jesus freely gives.…Don’t think of striving to get his favor. Think of striving with the favor of his help.”
— John Piper
What Jesus Demands of the World
(Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2006), 184-185
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“Preaching the gospel to ourselves every day addresses both the self-righteous Pharisee and the guilt-laden sinner that dwell in our hearts. Since the gospel is only for sinners, preaching it to ourselves every day reminds us that we are indeed sinners in need of God’s grace. It causes us to say to God, in the words of an old hymn, ‘Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.’”
— Jerry Bridges
The Disciple of Grace: God's Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness
(Colorado Springs, Co.: NavPress, 1994), 26
:D
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“True Christians shall never perish. Kings of the earth and mighty men shall depart and be no more seen; thrones and dominions and principalities, rich men and honorable men shall be swept into the tomb—but the humblest Christian cottager shall never see death everlasting, and when the heavens shall pass away as a scroll, and earth shall be burned up, that man shall be found to have a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
That man may be poor in this world and lightly esteemed—but I see in him one who shall be a glorious saint, when those who perchance had more of this life’s good things shall be in torment; I am confident that nothing shall ever separate him from the love of Christ. He may have his doubts—but I know he is provided for, he shall never be lost.”
— J.C. Ryle
"The Privileges of the True Christian"
What do we have to do to become a 'true christian'? I suppose try to find the 'true Christ' ... :)
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When people get letters in the post they're often addressed by their proper title: Mr. or Mrs., or even Dr. or Prof and sometimes Reverend. And that's how most people identify themselves today. In Bible times however, people identified themselves by occupation: Jesus the carpenter, Nehemiah the cupbearer, Zaccheus the tax-collector, Bob the Builder, etc.
Who was Psalm 18 written by? "David, the servant of the Lord." David, who had been anointed as king, still referred to himself firstly as a servant of the Lord! Just like another king who would come hundreds of years later, not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
What a challenge for us who follow Christ. I'm not firstly a student, but a servant. That's the title I'm honoured with everyday ...
By Unconfusing
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Men [and women] of Prayer Needed
from Unconfusing by denise
Study universal holiness of life. Your whole usefulness depends on this, for your sermons last but an hour or two; your life preaches all the week. If Satan can only make a covetous minister a lover of praise, of pleasure, of good eating, he has ruined your ministry. Give yourself to prayer, and get your texts, your thoughts, your words from God. Luther spent his best three hours in prayer.
Robert Murray M'Cheyne
There's a challenge, to spend three hours a day in prayer. For me to do more than half-an-hour at the end of the day is hard enough, let alone three!
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Luther and Feminism
from Unconfusing by denise
So there's a lot of debate in the literature as to whether Luther was a feminist, or as is more fashionable to say now, quite the anti-feminist.
My tutor, who is a prof and an expert on the Reformation, summed it all up very neatly:
"Luther wasn't anti-women, he was anti-human!"
I thought that was quite true, haha. Luther is anti-human, because he knows our only hope is Christ.
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Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?" ~ Ruth 2:10
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA&feature=player_embedded
Inspiring. How simple can reversing something be ...
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Beautiful people ...
The sum of the whole therefore is this.—That our beauty does not consist in our own virtues, nor even in the gifts which we have received from God, by which we put forth virtues and do all those things which pertain unto the life of the law. But in this:—our apprehending Christ and believing in him. Then it is that we are truly beautiful: and it is this beauty alone that Christ looks upon, and upon no other.
Among men, indeed, and in the courts of great men, such things are beautiful; but in the courts of God, we must be arrayed in another beauty! There, the one and only beauty is, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ! He it is that blots out all our blemishes and wrinkles, and makes us acceptable unto God. This faith is a thing omnipotent, a beauty the most fair; besides which, there is no beauty. For out of, and without Christ, we are damned and lost, together with all that we have and all that we are!
Luther
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Unconfusing's comment on feminism (and she's a gal too :)
'So I don't agree with [Daphne Hampson's (not a Christian] diagnosis and prescribed treatment for the above-mentioned problems, [lack of a sense of self-worth, leading to depression, anorexia, or suicidal tendencies] but I think she's got it right that the two methods (the gospel vs. feminism) are diametrically opposed. This world keeps telling us to claim our rights. Christ tells us to give up our rights, for we had none to begin with, only gifts from God for our stewardship. Christianity that focuses on empowering the self—cannot be Christianity at all—at least not the Christianity that Jesus described."
(emphasis added - I think)
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369216/Japan-nuclear-crisis-Fukushima-Fifty-pictures-inside-nuclear-power-plant.html
.
.
.
.
.
Um ... I'm not really sure what to say beyond these guys are amazing. I think i'll just end it here. Keep them in your prayers you guys. I know I will.
It's kind of sad, but I need to admit that I had completely forgotten about Japan. It's only been a few months, I remember exactly where I was when I found out, but since then I suppose the memories quickly fade into the background. I suppose all that I really can do is pray now.
† for God so loved the world that he would have enough patience to use me. :)
First of all - found this in the school newsletter!!!!!
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Then there's this 2 cents on attitude ...
"What phrases do you use in consolation? Imagine that you have some bad news to tell:
My credit cards have been stolen, they’ve cleared out my bank account… How do you finish that sentence?
…still, worse things happen at sea
… serves me right for being so careless
… I suppose I’m just cursed
… oh well, mustn’t grumble
… I guess I should count my blessings
… but people in Africa are starving
… at least I have my health
… such is life
Whatever we tack onto the end of our stories of suffering gives a little window onto our theology of suffering. Yet none of the lines above are a Christian response to suffering.
Recently, though, I heard a wonderful line. It came from a woman suffering from terminal cancer. How would you finish a sentence that begins “I have 6 months to live”? She said, “…Still, nothing a resurrection won’t fix.” Now that’s Christian consolation ... "
(The King's English)
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The weekly installment of 20 grace tweets from Scotty Smith:
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re aware of the racist that lives in you, not just in the Bubbas & rednecks near you.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You waste less food & time, and your committed giving is becoming cheerful giving.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You think about fixing people less and loving them more.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your family and friends can relax around you more than they did last year.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’ve given up trying to be the 4th member of the Trinity.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You will do everything you can NOT to do unnecessary damage to a person’s reputation.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Prayer walks are yielding as much satisfaction as shopping sprees, maybe more.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You enjoy, but you don’t flaunt Christian liberty. Act like you been there before.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t violate confidences. You can be trusted with the brokenness of others.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Lent is not a season for navel-gazing introspection but cross-surveying celebration.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t do penance to impress Jesus; you do repentant faith which unites you to Jesus.
A sign you’re growing in grace: What you are behind the steering wheel is a demonstration of the power of the gospel.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your identity is MORE tied to who you are in Christ than to your Myers-Briggs profile.
A sign you’re growing in grace: People are rarely offended by how tied you are to your cell phone or laptop.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your use of caller ID reflects your commitment to love well, not simply avoid people.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You take way less time getting dressed each morn & the main thing you put on is Christ.
A sign you’re growing in grace: The time lapse between the Spirit’s convicting and your repenting is much shorter.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t have to form an opinion about everything, nor a need to always share yours.
A sign you’re growing in grace: The word “godliness” makes you think about what Jesus has done for you, not vice versa.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re learning to repay good for evil without being self-righteous or pious about it.
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Not for me, not for me
In darkened sky, in stormy day
the clouds like night did pass my way
and rolling waves like armies strong
my small ship, it towed along.
It threat’ned to drag me beneath
and plunge my soul in bitt’rest grief
till to the Lord I cried in tears,
“Didst Thou unshackle my worst of fears:
to no longer close Thy Spirit know,
to feel my God had let me go?”
Holding my heart in pieces broke
and shattered prayers for peace and hope,
I cried to God amid the storm,
“Will Thou now judge this wicked worm?
For I know my own sin all too well
I know that I am fit for hell.”
And then a voice in the crashing thunder
declared, to rip the earth asunder
“O foolish child, did you not know?
Did you not see, were you not told?
This storm for you is not my wrath
and yet you crossed into its path
for on Calvary, in My True Son -
in My Servant, Christ, My will was done.
He took the burden of your sin
your every debt was charged to Him.
And I have given you this sign:
the tree of wood - the Cross I designed
to help you know in every trial
that though you bear a little while
this light, momentary, passing grief,
in the storm you may find relief.
Because Jesus bore My wrath in full
this angry storm is not for you,
who in His name are counted just
if in Christ you did fully trust.
Why then doubt My love for you
though stormy weather life takes you through
remember this, that since Christ bore
all wrath for sin, there is no more.
So suffer now and soon then, see
the eternal weight of heav’n’s glory -
a perfect clime, a gentler place
a home divine in every grace.
In earth made new where fears are stilled
and Death itself will there be killed.
Rest in the vessel I did provide,
rest in the wind and rain of mine
rest in the fellowship upon thy boat
rest in the words that I have spoke.”
And then with rain upon my face
I raised my voice and praised His grace
and in the howling storm I sang,
and singing loud, I sang again:
“Not for me, not for me -
Hallelujah!
God’s holy wrath is not for me!”
~More than watchman wait for the morning
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hehehe ... :) My thoughts exactly!………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
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Though I've sent it to some of you before ... God smiling @ me while I stressed over the english exam. Can you see the smiley face??
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“The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.” ~ Tim Keller
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“The Old Testament is a foreign book, they do things differently there. Burning bushes and staffs that turn into snakes, arks and animals and a menagerie afloat. Dead animals and bullocks, rams and thickets, slavery in Egypt, bronze serpents, man and mourning. Pillars of fire, columns of smoke, a convoluted history of conquests and kings, intrigue, adultery, murder, incest, and frankly, a preoccupation with bodily fluids. Bears who eat boys, boys who kill giants, prophets who taunt idolaters, prophets who throw fits, prophets who sit by gates and weep. Poetry that reads like praise, and poetry that reads like existentialist philosophy, Persian writing on walls, foreign kings who roam like beasts and a prostitute who hides spies. Spies who lose heart, women who summon courage, donkeys that talk, and a strong man who commits suicide. Stuttering leaders, naked patriarchs and majestic praise. Predictive prophecy, lamentation, law, statute, and ordinance, in all of its glory. And all of it revealing Christ, every bit of it. They do things differently there and that’s the point isn’t it? All these things anticipate Christ. All these things point to Christ. All rightly making us yearn for Christ. They should all make us recognize the Christ. “These are they that testify of Me.”
Albert Mohler at The Gospel Coalition 2011, on the foreignness of the Old Testament, “they do things differently there”. (Sermon: Studying the Scriptures and Finding Jesus)
Lol. But true. Imagine if ... well any of the stories happened today. What would the world's reaction be? Better yet, what would our reaction be? Life would be amazing, but also very quickly overwhelming if we followed a pillar of smoke and fire ... it's an interesting thought.
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Since the Fall
I don’t want to see any more broken hearts. Hearts were meant for loving.
I don’t want to see any more natural disasters that rob lives. The earth was meant for flourishing and fruit-bearing for human blessing.
I don’t want to see any more unfulfilled dreams and crushed hopes. Dreams and hopes were meant to point us to God.
I don’t want to see any more lonely people in this very crowded world. People were meant for community and love.
I don’t want to see any more people spiritually dead to the Word. Revelation and salvation were meant for glory.
I don’t want to see any more crying. Eyes were meant for seeing.
I don’t want to see any more disappointed lives, locked in cycles of endless wondering, “what if”. Life was meant for worship.
I don’t want to see any more degenerative diseases in bodies. The body was meant for a dwelling.
I don’t want to see any more sick young people. Youth was meant for delight.
I don’t want to see any more conflict in families. Families were meant for blessing.
I don’t want to see second guessing, doubts, exhausting questions and unfulfilled expectations, or the aborted hopes and aspirations abandoned simply out of fear. Love was meant as a gift.
I don’t want to see any more fear. Fear was meant for reverence.
I don’t want to see any more people tired and burdened with work, with chores. Work was meant for stewardship.
I don’t want to see unresponsive love. Love was meant for reciprocity.
I don’t want to see men struggling with lust and with purity. Sex was meant for marriage.
I don’t want to see any more struggles for meaning. Meaning was meant for truth.
I don’t want to see any more people with the ‘chip’ on the shoulder, the insecure, something-to-prove angst that lurks beneath angry, bitter people.
I don’t want to to see any more of the curse.
...
No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:3-4 ESV)
~ more than watchmen wait for the morning
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Between arrival and anticipation - I can relate to this.
Will I know it has arrived
When it does?
Was I dead to it
Until it came
Which would explain why I started thinking about it
But not before I knew it had come.
If it’s not arrived
Will I still bother when I thought it came?
Or has it not come yet -
Which just means I’m not bothering
If it isn’t here yet.
So perhaps it was better
When I was unbothered and dead to it
Since it has not yet come
Or came.
~ more than watchmen wait for the morning
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The Misunderstood Pascal's Wager ~ Hmm ... interesting. I'm familiar with Pascal's wager but unfamiliar with any other interpretation. Thoughts anyone??
(from Unconfusing by denise)
At New Word Alive, we were fortunate enough to attend a few seminars by Carl Trueman from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. One of the seminars was about Blaise Pascal and his writings about God; in particular, how he wrote about the tendency of people to distract themselves from the deeper questions of life and death with trivial entertainment.
He also talked about Pascal's wager, and how it is commonly misunderstood as an argument for faith in God because the consequences of not believing in God, in the event of God's existence, are too great.
However, to interpret Pascal's writings in such a way, Trueman argued, would firstly assert that Pascal was rather unfamiliar with Paul's writings in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Christ was not raised from the dead, we are to be pitied above all men. Secondly, it was simply inconsistent with the rest of Pascal's writings. Rather, Trueman suggests that Pascal was revealing the moral underpinnings of mankind's disbelief in God.
Pascal notes that human beings normally make decisions rationally, playing the percentage game in life, making decisions according to which choice is most likely to yield the best result. Yet, in the area of religion, people often choose not to believe in God—despite the consequences in the event that God exists and that God chooses to punish unbelief with eternal death. Pascal thus suggests that the reason for unbelief is not a rational one but a moral one.
Pascal's wager is not a call to 'play it safe' by believing in God and using him as fire insurance. It is an apologetic that demonstrates mankind's opposition to God as moral and not purely rational.
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You Are Our Hope ~I like the lyrics ... be more powerful with the melody though I think...
Sovereign Grace
Comfort for weary sinners
Strength for the struggling saint
Jesus Christ has risen from the grave
Peace when the waves are pounding
When voices of hope sound faint
Jesus Christ has risen from the grave
How can grief remain when our Savior reigns?
You are our hope You are our joy
You are our overcoming King
So we sing “Hallelujah, Jesus is alive!”
Risen from death ascended on high
Glorious by the Father’s side
So we sing “Hallelujah, Jesus is alive!”
Power to fight temptation
The world and the devil’s lies
Jesus Christ has risen from the grave
Purpose in all our suffering
And joy that will never die
Jesus Christ has risen from the grave
How can grief remain when our Savior reigns
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A disturbing event
from Of First Importance
“There is an element in the Gospel narratives that stresses that the coming of Jesus is a disturbing event of the deepest proportions. It had to be thus, for He did not come merely to add something extra to life, but to deal with our spiritual insolvency and the debt of our sin. He was not conceived in the womb of Mary for those who have done their best, but for those who know that their best is ‘like filthy rags’ (Isa. 64:6) — far from good enough — and that in their flesh there dwells no good thing (Rom. 7:18). He was not sent to be the source of good experiences, but to suffer the pangs of hell in order to be our Savior.”
— Sinclair B. Ferguson
In Christ Alone
(Orlando, Fl.: Reformation Trust, 2007), 17
Different Perspective ... but though it may be 'disturbing' I know that my need for the cross would make me incredibly uncomfortable in phrasing it this way.
Somehow depicting one of the most important events in our human history as a 'disturbing' event as doesn't sit comfortable with me.
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“For when I am weak, then I am strong.”2 Corinthians 12:10
http://theresurgence.com/2011/04/11/finding-strength-in-your-weakness
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(unconfusing)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
11 Ways to Find Your Idols
from The Resurgence by Mike Anderson
Find your idols
Idols are sneaky. They tip toe past our brains, set up shop in a corner of our heart, and begin to grow. Most of the time we don’t even notice because we’ve fallen in love with the idol—it’s become part of what drives us and makes us (momentarily) happy.
Recently Jared Wilson blogged about 11 diagnostic questions that David Powlison asks to find people’s idols. I just sent everyone in my community group this list of questions because I want to help build a culture of asking deep heart level questions, applying the Gospel to life, and seeking Christ together.
Here are the questions:
1. What do I worry about most?
2. What, if I failed or lost it, would cause me to feel that I did not even want to live?
3. What do I use to comfort myself when things go bad or get difficult?
4. What do I do to cope? What are my release valves? What do I do to feel better?
5. What preoccupies me? What do I daydream about?
6. What makes me feel the most self-worth? Of what am I the proudest? For what do I want to be known?
7. What do I lead with in conversations?
8. Early on what do I want to make sure that people know about me?
9. What prayer, unanswered, would make me seriously think about turning away from God?
10. What do I really want and expect out of life? What would really make me happy?
11. What is my hope for the future?
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“The lessons of the cross are ones we never outgrow, for the further we go the deeper we get.”
— Rebecca Pippert
Hope Has Its Reasons
(New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1989), 159
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“God redeemed us in his Son so that he might love us and delight in us even as he loves and delights in his eternal Son. Adoption is God’s act of making room within his triune love for prodigals who are without hope, and providing them with homes in this world and the world to come.”
— Dan Cruver
Reclaiming Adoption
(Adelphi, Md.: Cruciform Press, 2011), 14
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“What I say I believe and know about Jesus is only meaningful when I put it into action through service.”
— Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp
Change and Your Relationships: A Mess Worth Making
(Greensboro, NC.: New Growth Press, 2009), 95
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“The fight is not the oppressive struggle to earn God’s final rest, but the satisfying struggle to rest in the peace that Jesus freely gives.…Don’t think of striving to get his favor. Think of striving with the favor of his help.”
— John Piper
What Jesus Demands of the World
(Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2006), 184-185
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“Preaching the gospel to ourselves every day addresses both the self-righteous Pharisee and the guilt-laden sinner that dwell in our hearts. Since the gospel is only for sinners, preaching it to ourselves every day reminds us that we are indeed sinners in need of God’s grace. It causes us to say to God, in the words of an old hymn, ‘Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.’”
— Jerry Bridges
The Disciple of Grace: God's Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness
(Colorado Springs, Co.: NavPress, 1994), 26
:D
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“True Christians shall never perish. Kings of the earth and mighty men shall depart and be no more seen; thrones and dominions and principalities, rich men and honorable men shall be swept into the tomb—but the humblest Christian cottager shall never see death everlasting, and when the heavens shall pass away as a scroll, and earth shall be burned up, that man shall be found to have a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
That man may be poor in this world and lightly esteemed—but I see in him one who shall be a glorious saint, when those who perchance had more of this life’s good things shall be in torment; I am confident that nothing shall ever separate him from the love of Christ. He may have his doubts—but I know he is provided for, he shall never be lost.”
— J.C. Ryle
"The Privileges of the True Christian"
What do we have to do to become a 'true christian'? I suppose try to find the 'true Christ' ... :)
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When people get letters in the post they're often addressed by their proper title: Mr. or Mrs., or even Dr. or Prof and sometimes Reverend. And that's how most people identify themselves today. In Bible times however, people identified themselves by occupation: Jesus the carpenter, Nehemiah the cupbearer, Zaccheus the tax-collector, Bob the Builder, etc.
Who was Psalm 18 written by? "David, the servant of the Lord." David, who had been anointed as king, still referred to himself firstly as a servant of the Lord! Just like another king who would come hundreds of years later, not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
What a challenge for us who follow Christ. I'm not firstly a student, but a servant. That's the title I'm honoured with everyday ...
By Unconfusing
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Men [and women] of Prayer Needed
from Unconfusing by denise
Study universal holiness of life. Your whole usefulness depends on this, for your sermons last but an hour or two; your life preaches all the week. If Satan can only make a covetous minister a lover of praise, of pleasure, of good eating, he has ruined your ministry. Give yourself to prayer, and get your texts, your thoughts, your words from God. Luther spent his best three hours in prayer.
Robert Murray M'Cheyne
There's a challenge, to spend three hours a day in prayer. For me to do more than half-an-hour at the end of the day is hard enough, let alone three!
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Luther and Feminism
from Unconfusing by denise
So there's a lot of debate in the literature as to whether Luther was a feminist, or as is more fashionable to say now, quite the anti-feminist.
My tutor, who is a prof and an expert on the Reformation, summed it all up very neatly:
"Luther wasn't anti-women, he was anti-human!"
I thought that was quite true, haha. Luther is anti-human, because he knows our only hope is Christ.
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Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?" ~ Ruth 2:10
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA&feature=player_embedded
Inspiring. How simple can reversing something be ...
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Beautiful people ...
The sum of the whole therefore is this.—That our beauty does not consist in our own virtues, nor even in the gifts which we have received from God, by which we put forth virtues and do all those things which pertain unto the life of the law. But in this:—our apprehending Christ and believing in him. Then it is that we are truly beautiful: and it is this beauty alone that Christ looks upon, and upon no other.
Among men, indeed, and in the courts of great men, such things are beautiful; but in the courts of God, we must be arrayed in another beauty! There, the one and only beauty is, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ! He it is that blots out all our blemishes and wrinkles, and makes us acceptable unto God. This faith is a thing omnipotent, a beauty the most fair; besides which, there is no beauty. For out of, and without Christ, we are damned and lost, together with all that we have and all that we are!
Luther
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Unconfusing's comment on feminism (and she's a gal too :)
'So I don't agree with [Daphne Hampson's (not a Christian] diagnosis and prescribed treatment for the above-mentioned problems, [lack of a sense of self-worth, leading to depression, anorexia, or suicidal tendencies] but I think she's got it right that the two methods (the gospel vs. feminism) are diametrically opposed. This world keeps telling us to claim our rights. Christ tells us to give up our rights, for we had none to begin with, only gifts from God for our stewardship. Christianity that focuses on empowering the self—cannot be Christianity at all—at least not the Christianity that Jesus described."
(emphasis added - I think)
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369216/Japan-nuclear-crisis-Fukushima-Fifty-pictures-inside-nuclear-power-plant.html
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Um ... I'm not really sure what to say beyond these guys are amazing. I think i'll just end it here. Keep them in your prayers you guys. I know I will.
It's kind of sad, but I need to admit that I had completely forgotten about Japan. It's only been a few months, I remember exactly where I was when I found out, but since then I suppose the memories quickly fade into the background. I suppose all that I really can do is pray now.
† for God so loved the world that he would have enough patience to use me. :)
Saturday, June 25, 2011
3b ... :D
I'm still learning to remember to reference these things :)
“The story of the Bible is that God the Father sent His only true and eternal Son on a mission, and that mission was to bring many wayward and rebellious sons home to glory (Hebrews 2:10). That is the Story behind the story of the Prodigal Sons. That is the only story that gives our stories any meaning or significance.”
— Dan Cruver
Reclaiming Adoption
(Adelphi, Md.: Cruciform Press, 2011), 11
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How do you read the Bible?
from Unconfusing by denise
What are other ways we might read the Bible?
The Gold Mine Approach – reading the Bible as a vast, cavernous, dark mine, in which one occasionally stumbles upon a nugget of inspiration. Result: confused reading.
The Hero Approach – reading the Bible as a moral hall of fame that gives us one example after another of heroic spiritual giants to emulate. Result: despairing reading.
The Rules Approach – reading the Bible on the lookout for commands to obey to subtly reinforce a sense of personal superiority. Result: Pharisaical reading.
The Artifact Approach – reading the Bible as an ancient document about events in the Middle East a few thousand years ago that are irrelevant to my life today. Result: bored reading.
The Guidebook Approach – reading the Bible as a roadmap to tell me where to work, whom to marry, and what shampoo to use. Result: anxious reading.
The Doctrine Approach – reading the Bible as a theological repository to plunder for ammunition for my next theology debate at Starbucks. Result: cold reading.
How then should we read the Bible? Dane Ortlund writes about it in Transform Your Bible Reading. HT: Vitamin Z (http://theresurgence.com/2011/03/31/transform-your-bible-reading)
'The Bible is not mainly commands with stories of grace sprinkled in. It is mainly a story of grace with commands sprinkled in. '
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http://theresurgence.com/2011/04/04/pauls-dilemma-should-he-stay-or-should-he-go?
v. interesting. I like the diagram ... :)
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This one again .. :)
A sign you’re growing in grace: It’s getting easier not to retaliate, get even, or even crave God’s vengeance.
A sign you’re growing in grace: The work “trafficking” moves you to work for justice, not complain about too many cars.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t care squat about infralapsarianism, but you’ll defend the gospel with your life.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Less cynicism about other people’s sins and more tears over your own.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You feel like you’re just beginning to appreciate all the riches and depth of John 3:16.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You argue less about the timing of the Spirit’s baptism & thirst 4 more of his fullness.
A sign your’e growing in grace: You don’t “dis” legalism disproportionately to antinomianism.
A sign you’re growing in grace: God’s promises claim you more than you claim them.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your thoughts of heaven are more about the transforming of this world than escaping it.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You can enjoy God’s gifts without reservation & share God’s gifts without hesitation.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t linger at religious TV programming just to fuel contempt & make snide remarks.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You remember the names of your checkout attendants where you usually buy your groceries.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Compliments don’t intoxicate you and criticism doesn’t decimate you.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your theology always leads to doxology, not merely to you being more right than others.
A sign your’e growing in grace: It takes minutes not weeks to recognize when you’ve fallen back into works righteousness.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You find yourself choosing to use the phrase, “You don’t get me” less and less.
A sign you’re growing in grace: When in Starbucks, you don’t judge the people who sit in the best chairs for hours.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t objecify your church for criticism. You weep with her as a member of the family.
A sign you’re growing in grace. You unplug your affirmation-junkie umbilical cord from people by believing the gospel.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t trust signs, just Jesus.
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HAPPILY DYING
TO DIE IS TO LIVE AND TO LIVE IS TO DIE
I’M NOT PERFECT, BUT I KNOW I’VE TRIED.
I KNOW I’VE YET TO ARRIVE.
SOME SAY TRUE LOVE IS SUICIDE.
BUT IT’S WORTH THE RISK.
I’D RATHER LOSE IT ALL, THEN TO LIVE A LIFE THAT MISSED.
MISSED WHAT COULD HAVE, WHAT SHOULD HAVE.
BUT I’M NOT THINKING ABOUT THAT RIGHT NOW.
MY THOUGHTS ARE CAUGHT IN JUST LIVING RIGHT NOW.
I’D RATHER GIVE IT MY ALL, AND SAY THAT I’VE TRIED.
THESE LESSONS I’VE LEARNED, FROM ALL THE MISTAKES I’VE MADE
THE HARDEST THING IN LIFE IS TO APPLY THE TRUTH.
YOU KNOW IT IN YOUR HEAD, BUT IT’S ANOTHER THING TO LIVE IT.
I ADMIT IT, I’M LESS THAN WHAT YOU THINK I AM
BUT WHAT MAKES A MAN ISN’T WHAT HE SAYS, IT IS WHAT HE DOES
IT IS HOW HE LIVES, IT IS HOW HE GIVES, IT IS HOW HE SACRIFICES FOR LOVE
FOR HIS WIFE, HIS CHILDREN AND KIDS
MAYBE ONE DAY I WILL KNOW THAT, BUT RIGHT NOW ALL I CAN DO IS HOPE THAT
ME DYING RIGHT HERE WILL SHOW THAT, I’M WILLING TO GIVE UP EVERYTHING
FOR THIS ONE THING CALLED LOVE, I’M HAPPILY DYING CAUSE I’M SATISFIED IN LOVE
I DON’T NEED ANYTHING MORE, I DON’T NEED ANYTHING LESS
TRUE BLESSING IS WHEN YOU ARE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE, NOT WHAT YOU DON’T HAVE
IT’S ABOUT LIVING IN THE MOMENT, LIVING IN THE PRESENT
MY GREATEST GIFT IN LIFE IS THE GIFT OF GOD’S PRESENCE
I SAID IT, AND I DON’T HAVE ANY REGRETS, CAUSE IF YOU HAVE EVERYTHING IN THIS LIFE
BUT YOU MISSED GOD, THEN YOU JUST MISSED EVERYTHING
CAUSE LIFE WITHOUT GOD IS NOT ANYTHING, I’M TALKING ABOUT EVERYTHING TRUE, GOOD AND BEAUTIFUL
I MIGHT BE LOST IN THIS WORLD, BUT I FIND MYSELF IN ETERNAL BLISS
I’M HAPPILY DYING TO THIS WORLD BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING THAT I MISS
THERE’S NOTHING THAT CAN HOLD ME, NOTHING THAT CAN HOLD ME DOWN TO THIS LIFE’S DISAPPOINTMENTS,
I ONLY HAVE ONE THING THAT I HOLD ONTO AND THAT IS THE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE THAT NEVER DISAPPOINTS ME
I’M JUST A MAN ON A JOURNEY, 30 YEARS OLD AND THINKING ABOUT LIFE EACH DAY AS IF IT WERE MY LAST
I TAKE EVERY DAY AS A LESSON LEARNED, I’M IN CLASS TILL THE DAY I DIE, I’LL NEVER STOP LEARNING
I’LL NEVER STOP BURNING FOR THE ONE I LOVE, THE ONE THAT GIVES ME HOPE IN TIMES OF TROUBLE
FOR EVERY CHALLENGE, I SEE IT AS ONE STEP TO ANOTHER LEVEL, AND WE ARE ALL LEVEL,
EQUALS ON THIS PLAYING FIELD OF LIFE, DON’T HOLD ONTO THE PAST HURTS, BUT MOVE ON, FIGHT.
I’M HAPPILY DYING CAUSE I’M NO LONGER BOUND, I’M JUST LIVING
IF I LOST EVERYTHING I EVER HOPED FOR IN THIS LIFE, SO BE IT
MY LOVE IS NEVER LOST AS LONG AS I PROCEEDED TO LIVE FOR LOVE AND TO STAND FOR TRUTH
I DON’T NEED A BOOTH, I DON’T NEED A STAGE, ALL I NEED IS TO BE BRAVE ENOUGH TO LIVE ANOTHER DAY
TO BREATHE AND EXHALE ANOTHER MOMENT, I’M LIVING
FINALLY ALIVE AND NO LONGER HELD DOWN BY THE EXPECTATIONS
THE EXPECTATIONS OF MAN, THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE CHURCH,
THE EXPECTATIONS OF MYSELF, THE EXPECTATIONS AND THE HURTS
I’M FREE TO BE ME, MY GOOD, MY BAD, MY BEAUTIFUL, MY UGLY
YOU STILL WANT TO HUG ME? EMBRACE ME AND FACE ME FOR WHAT I AM
I LOVE GOD. I LOVE MYSELF. I LOVE MY FELLOW MAN. I AM THIS MAN.
I’M HAPPILY DYING.
(http://jaesonma.com/)
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Another one!!!
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re thinking more about the new heaven & new earth than the intermediate state.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Missions isn’t a budget line item but a core passion & preoccupation.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You desire less stuff rather than simply buying more.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Places like Haiti, Dafur and Somolia aren’t “missions targets”, but family.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t debate eschatology, you live it.
A sign you’re growing in grace: When you hear the word “sanctification,” you think about Jesus & his work, not yours.
A sign you’re growing in grace: When speak about “the victorious Christian life” you’re referring to Jesus, not you.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Nothing makes your blood boil more than false gospels.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your spouse marvels at how much better you are at listening than early in your marriage.
A sign you’re growing in grace: When you think about “blessings” from God, suffering makes your list.
A sign you’re growing in grace: The word “idolatry” makes you think about your heart more so than Greek temples.
A sign you’re growing in grace: The passive righteousness of Jesus lights an active fire in your heart for kingdom work.
A sign you’re growing in grace: The phrase, “meriting God’s favor” has been ripped from your salvific vocabulary.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’ve got a whole lot more confidence in Jesus’ prayers than yours.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re content, even glad knowing that God sometimes answers your prayers with “No.”
A sign you’re growing in grace: You can find Jesus in the Book of Obadiah.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re increasingly Trinitarian.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your neighbors are glad they are.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re increasingly less quarrelsome, sarcastic and easily offended.
A sign you’re growing in grace: When U hear the word “mortification” U think about killing sin, not being embarrassed.
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NTM Reach
With my newfound ability to schedule posts, I tricked you into thinking I was at home typing away! (ok so maybe not.) In any case, Jon and I were away at the NTM Reach conference over the weekend. It was really good. Not only did they feed us excessively (in quantity And quality), we got to meet loads of people from the continent (mostly German and Dutch), and we learnt so much about what NTM does in countries like the Philippines and Papua New Guinea.
So NTM (New Tribes Mission) focusses on reaching out to tribes that have no foreigners in their midst, where no one else speaks their language and most of these languages aren't even written down. So when missionaries go in, they have often to learn the language from scratch (no interpreters!) and then create an alphabet, and a written form of the language, before then translating the Scriptures, all while getting to know the people, teaching them to read and write, and church planting. It's kinda incredible.
NTM people refer to Papua New Guinea (PNG for short) which has hundreds of untranslated and unwritten languages, as the new Promised Land.
If you know anything about NTM or have any advice regarding missions, let us know, because it's looking very much like an organisation we'd like to be part of in the future...
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http://theresurgence.com/2011/04/03/spurgeon-sermon-notes-a-sermon-for-the-aged
Another gorgeous article. Reading it make me think of Peggy and Tom, and all other 'old darlings' I know. Also, its strange trying to picture how I'll be when I'm 'old', probably very similar to how we are now... :)
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... don't know what to say. I guess it speaks for itself.
“Shredded flesh against unforgiving wood, iron stakes pounded through bone and wracked nerves, joints wrenched out of socked by the sheer dead weight of the body, public humiliation before the eyes of family, friends, and the world — that was death on the cross, ‘the infamous stake’ as the Romans called it, ‘the barren wood, ’ the maxima mala crux. Or as the Greeks spat it out, the stauros. No wonder no one talked about it. No wonder parents hid their children’s eyes from it. The stauros was a loathsome thing, and the one who dies on it was loathsome too, a vile criminal whose only use was to hang there as a putrid decaying warning to anyone else who might follow his example.
That is how Jesus died.”
— Greg Gilbert
"The Gospel: God's Self-Substitution for Sinners" in Don't Call It a Comeback, ed. Kevin DeYoung
(Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2011), 72
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Naaawwwwwww :)
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“Consider that the saints’ dying-day is to them the Lord’s pay-day. Every prayer shall then have its answer; all hungerings and thirstings shall be filled and satisfied; every sigh, groan, and tear that has fallen from the saints’ eyes shall then be recompensed.
Then they shall be paid and recompensed for all public service, and all family service, and all closet service. Then a crown shall be set upon their heads, and glorious robes put upon their backs, and golden scepters put into their hands; their dying-day being the Lord’s payday, they shall hear the Lord saying to them, ‘Well done, good and faithful servants, enter into your Master’s joy’ (Mat. 15:21).
Then God will make good all those golden and glorious promises that he has made to them, especially these which are here cited (Rev. 2:10, 3:4, 12, 22, and 7:16–17.) Now God will give them gold for brass, and silver for iron, felicity for misery, plenty for poverty, honor for dishonor, freedom for bondage, heaven for earth, an immortal crown for a mortal crown!”
— Thomas Brooks
A Believer's Last Day, His Best Day
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*cool perspective* :D
I've always said, you know, that I don't respect people who don't proselytise. I don't respect that at all. If you believe there is a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell, or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that, well, it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward... How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytise? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean, if I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you, and you didn't believe it, and that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.
Penn Jilette, atheist
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“Is not Christ your treasure? Is not heaven your inheritance—and will you murmur? Has not God given you a changed heart, a renewed nature, and a sanctified soul—and will you murmur?
Has He not given you Himself to satisfy you, His Son to save you, His Spirit to lead you, His grace to adorn you, His covenant to assure you, His mercy to pardon you, His righteousness to clothe you—and will you murmur? Has He not made you a friend, a son, a brother, a bride, an heir—and will you murmur?
When you were dead, did not He quicken you? When you were lost, did not He seek you? When you were wounded, did not He heal you? When you were falling, did not He support you? When you were down, did not He raise you? When you were staggering, did not He establish you? When you were erring, did not He correct you? When you were tempted, did not He support you? and when you went in dangers, did not He deliver you?—and will you murmur?
What! you who are so highly advanced and exalted above many thousands in the world? Murmuring suits none so badly as saints.”
— Thomas Brooks
The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod
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I love poetry;
Help me figure you
You are as a sonnet to make sense of:
To paraphrase and to contextualize,
To decode by your form, by your rhyme
Yet never really by what you say.
I scan the lines and count the syllables,
I listen for consonance and for plosives
I look for the turn in the familiar places,
Yet never really read what you say.
But you are as a poet to make sense of:
To imagine and/or to recreate-
I will listen for you, or myself perhaps.
And what shall I do with you when you stop writing?
How will I stop imagining you as you make meaning
And beauty, truth, hope, and a thousand small things that wonder?
(don't know the source sorry)
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Hmmm ....
I frequently hear persons exhorted to give their hearts to Christ, which is a very proper exhortation; but that is not the gospel. Salvation comes from something that Christ gives you, not something that you give to Christ. The giving of your heart to Christ follows after the receiving from Christ of eternal life by faith. It is easy to work our friends up so that they say, “We will give our hearts to Christ,” but they may never do so, after all. If, with broken heart and contrite sigh, they had confessed their guilt, and had penitently cried, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” they might not have looked quite so well, but there would have been more hope of them. We cannot come to Christ unless Christ comes to us, and gives us a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
C.H. Spurgeon
(source: I Will Build My Church) (via The Wanderer)
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“Worship is the gift of participating through the Spirit in the incarnate Son’s communion with the Father.”
— James B. Torrance
Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace
(Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 20
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http://jaesonma.com/be-prepared-for-what-is-coming/
Waaaaaaaaah! But I just wanna do my HSC ... :(
It's scary. And the thing is I completely believe him. Gotta pray for the power to pick up my game ...!
I hope that we'll be ready.
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(a lighter note ... :)
Genesis 26:8
from Unconfusing by denise
When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with* Rebekah his wife.
*Hebrew may suggest an intimate relationship
Why thank you English Standard Version.
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We get ourselves in trouble when we enthrone a method and try to make that method work everywhere, rather than figuring out what is the principle behind the method?” ~ Dave Kraft
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http://timmybrister.com/2011/03/29/lets-tell-them/
couldn't get ANY more straight forward - but if we're still cringing why aren't we trying harder to prevent it.
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“The story of the Bible is that God the Father sent His only true and eternal Son on a mission, and that mission was to bring many wayward and rebellious sons home to glory (Hebrews 2:10). That is the Story behind the story of the Prodigal Sons. That is the only story that gives our stories any meaning or significance.”
— Dan Cruver
Reclaiming Adoption
(Adelphi, Md.: Cruciform Press, 2011), 11
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How do you read the Bible?
from Unconfusing by denise
What are other ways we might read the Bible?
The Gold Mine Approach – reading the Bible as a vast, cavernous, dark mine, in which one occasionally stumbles upon a nugget of inspiration. Result: confused reading.
The Hero Approach – reading the Bible as a moral hall of fame that gives us one example after another of heroic spiritual giants to emulate. Result: despairing reading.
The Rules Approach – reading the Bible on the lookout for commands to obey to subtly reinforce a sense of personal superiority. Result: Pharisaical reading.
The Artifact Approach – reading the Bible as an ancient document about events in the Middle East a few thousand years ago that are irrelevant to my life today. Result: bored reading.
The Guidebook Approach – reading the Bible as a roadmap to tell me where to work, whom to marry, and what shampoo to use. Result: anxious reading.
The Doctrine Approach – reading the Bible as a theological repository to plunder for ammunition for my next theology debate at Starbucks. Result: cold reading.
How then should we read the Bible? Dane Ortlund writes about it in Transform Your Bible Reading. HT: Vitamin Z (http://theresurgence.com/2011/03/31/transform-your-bible-reading)
'The Bible is not mainly commands with stories of grace sprinkled in. It is mainly a story of grace with commands sprinkled in. '
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http://theresurgence.com/2011/04/04/pauls-dilemma-should-he-stay-or-should-he-go?
v. interesting. I like the diagram ... :)
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This one again .. :)
A sign you’re growing in grace: It’s getting easier not to retaliate, get even, or even crave God’s vengeance.
A sign you’re growing in grace: The work “trafficking” moves you to work for justice, not complain about too many cars.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t care squat about infralapsarianism, but you’ll defend the gospel with your life.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Less cynicism about other people’s sins and more tears over your own.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You feel like you’re just beginning to appreciate all the riches and depth of John 3:16.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You argue less about the timing of the Spirit’s baptism & thirst 4 more of his fullness.
A sign your’e growing in grace: You don’t “dis” legalism disproportionately to antinomianism.
A sign you’re growing in grace: God’s promises claim you more than you claim them.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your thoughts of heaven are more about the transforming of this world than escaping it.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You can enjoy God’s gifts without reservation & share God’s gifts without hesitation.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t linger at religious TV programming just to fuel contempt & make snide remarks.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You remember the names of your checkout attendants where you usually buy your groceries.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Compliments don’t intoxicate you and criticism doesn’t decimate you.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your theology always leads to doxology, not merely to you being more right than others.
A sign your’e growing in grace: It takes minutes not weeks to recognize when you’ve fallen back into works righteousness.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You find yourself choosing to use the phrase, “You don’t get me” less and less.
A sign you’re growing in grace: When in Starbucks, you don’t judge the people who sit in the best chairs for hours.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t objecify your church for criticism. You weep with her as a member of the family.
A sign you’re growing in grace. You unplug your affirmation-junkie umbilical cord from people by believing the gospel.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t trust signs, just Jesus.
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HAPPILY DYING
TO DIE IS TO LIVE AND TO LIVE IS TO DIE
I’M NOT PERFECT, BUT I KNOW I’VE TRIED.
I KNOW I’VE YET TO ARRIVE.
SOME SAY TRUE LOVE IS SUICIDE.
BUT IT’S WORTH THE RISK.
I’D RATHER LOSE IT ALL, THEN TO LIVE A LIFE THAT MISSED.
MISSED WHAT COULD HAVE, WHAT SHOULD HAVE.
BUT I’M NOT THINKING ABOUT THAT RIGHT NOW.
MY THOUGHTS ARE CAUGHT IN JUST LIVING RIGHT NOW.
I’D RATHER GIVE IT MY ALL, AND SAY THAT I’VE TRIED.
THESE LESSONS I’VE LEARNED, FROM ALL THE MISTAKES I’VE MADE
THE HARDEST THING IN LIFE IS TO APPLY THE TRUTH.
YOU KNOW IT IN YOUR HEAD, BUT IT’S ANOTHER THING TO LIVE IT.
I ADMIT IT, I’M LESS THAN WHAT YOU THINK I AM
BUT WHAT MAKES A MAN ISN’T WHAT HE SAYS, IT IS WHAT HE DOES
IT IS HOW HE LIVES, IT IS HOW HE GIVES, IT IS HOW HE SACRIFICES FOR LOVE
FOR HIS WIFE, HIS CHILDREN AND KIDS
MAYBE ONE DAY I WILL KNOW THAT, BUT RIGHT NOW ALL I CAN DO IS HOPE THAT
ME DYING RIGHT HERE WILL SHOW THAT, I’M WILLING TO GIVE UP EVERYTHING
FOR THIS ONE THING CALLED LOVE, I’M HAPPILY DYING CAUSE I’M SATISFIED IN LOVE
I DON’T NEED ANYTHING MORE, I DON’T NEED ANYTHING LESS
TRUE BLESSING IS WHEN YOU ARE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE, NOT WHAT YOU DON’T HAVE
IT’S ABOUT LIVING IN THE MOMENT, LIVING IN THE PRESENT
MY GREATEST GIFT IN LIFE IS THE GIFT OF GOD’S PRESENCE
I SAID IT, AND I DON’T HAVE ANY REGRETS, CAUSE IF YOU HAVE EVERYTHING IN THIS LIFE
BUT YOU MISSED GOD, THEN YOU JUST MISSED EVERYTHING
CAUSE LIFE WITHOUT GOD IS NOT ANYTHING, I’M TALKING ABOUT EVERYTHING TRUE, GOOD AND BEAUTIFUL
I MIGHT BE LOST IN THIS WORLD, BUT I FIND MYSELF IN ETERNAL BLISS
I’M HAPPILY DYING TO THIS WORLD BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING THAT I MISS
THERE’S NOTHING THAT CAN HOLD ME, NOTHING THAT CAN HOLD ME DOWN TO THIS LIFE’S DISAPPOINTMENTS,
I ONLY HAVE ONE THING THAT I HOLD ONTO AND THAT IS THE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE THAT NEVER DISAPPOINTS ME
I’M JUST A MAN ON A JOURNEY, 30 YEARS OLD AND THINKING ABOUT LIFE EACH DAY AS IF IT WERE MY LAST
I TAKE EVERY DAY AS A LESSON LEARNED, I’M IN CLASS TILL THE DAY I DIE, I’LL NEVER STOP LEARNING
I’LL NEVER STOP BURNING FOR THE ONE I LOVE, THE ONE THAT GIVES ME HOPE IN TIMES OF TROUBLE
FOR EVERY CHALLENGE, I SEE IT AS ONE STEP TO ANOTHER LEVEL, AND WE ARE ALL LEVEL,
EQUALS ON THIS PLAYING FIELD OF LIFE, DON’T HOLD ONTO THE PAST HURTS, BUT MOVE ON, FIGHT.
I’M HAPPILY DYING CAUSE I’M NO LONGER BOUND, I’M JUST LIVING
IF I LOST EVERYTHING I EVER HOPED FOR IN THIS LIFE, SO BE IT
MY LOVE IS NEVER LOST AS LONG AS I PROCEEDED TO LIVE FOR LOVE AND TO STAND FOR TRUTH
I DON’T NEED A BOOTH, I DON’T NEED A STAGE, ALL I NEED IS TO BE BRAVE ENOUGH TO LIVE ANOTHER DAY
TO BREATHE AND EXHALE ANOTHER MOMENT, I’M LIVING
FINALLY ALIVE AND NO LONGER HELD DOWN BY THE EXPECTATIONS
THE EXPECTATIONS OF MAN, THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE CHURCH,
THE EXPECTATIONS OF MYSELF, THE EXPECTATIONS AND THE HURTS
I’M FREE TO BE ME, MY GOOD, MY BAD, MY BEAUTIFUL, MY UGLY
YOU STILL WANT TO HUG ME? EMBRACE ME AND FACE ME FOR WHAT I AM
I LOVE GOD. I LOVE MYSELF. I LOVE MY FELLOW MAN. I AM THIS MAN.
I’M HAPPILY DYING.
(http://jaesonma.com/)
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Another one!!!
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re thinking more about the new heaven & new earth than the intermediate state.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Missions isn’t a budget line item but a core passion & preoccupation.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You desire less stuff rather than simply buying more.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Places like Haiti, Dafur and Somolia aren’t “missions targets”, but family.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t debate eschatology, you live it.
A sign you’re growing in grace: When you hear the word “sanctification,” you think about Jesus & his work, not yours.
A sign you’re growing in grace: When speak about “the victorious Christian life” you’re referring to Jesus, not you.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Nothing makes your blood boil more than false gospels.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your spouse marvels at how much better you are at listening than early in your marriage.
A sign you’re growing in grace: When you think about “blessings” from God, suffering makes your list.
A sign you’re growing in grace: The word “idolatry” makes you think about your heart more so than Greek temples.
A sign you’re growing in grace: The passive righteousness of Jesus lights an active fire in your heart for kingdom work.
A sign you’re growing in grace: The phrase, “meriting God’s favor” has been ripped from your salvific vocabulary.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’ve got a whole lot more confidence in Jesus’ prayers than yours.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re content, even glad knowing that God sometimes answers your prayers with “No.”
A sign you’re growing in grace: You can find Jesus in the Book of Obadiah.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re increasingly Trinitarian.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your neighbors are glad they are.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re increasingly less quarrelsome, sarcastic and easily offended.
A sign you’re growing in grace: When U hear the word “mortification” U think about killing sin, not being embarrassed.
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NTM Reach
With my newfound ability to schedule posts, I tricked you into thinking I was at home typing away! (ok so maybe not.) In any case, Jon and I were away at the NTM Reach conference over the weekend. It was really good. Not only did they feed us excessively (in quantity And quality), we got to meet loads of people from the continent (mostly German and Dutch), and we learnt so much about what NTM does in countries like the Philippines and Papua New Guinea.
So NTM (New Tribes Mission) focusses on reaching out to tribes that have no foreigners in their midst, where no one else speaks their language and most of these languages aren't even written down. So when missionaries go in, they have often to learn the language from scratch (no interpreters!) and then create an alphabet, and a written form of the language, before then translating the Scriptures, all while getting to know the people, teaching them to read and write, and church planting. It's kinda incredible.
NTM people refer to Papua New Guinea (PNG for short) which has hundreds of untranslated and unwritten languages, as the new Promised Land.
If you know anything about NTM or have any advice regarding missions, let us know, because it's looking very much like an organisation we'd like to be part of in the future...
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http://theresurgence.com/2011/04/03/spurgeon-sermon-notes-a-sermon-for-the-aged
Another gorgeous article. Reading it make me think of Peggy and Tom, and all other 'old darlings' I know. Also, its strange trying to picture how I'll be when I'm 'old', probably very similar to how we are now... :)
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... don't know what to say. I guess it speaks for itself.
“Shredded flesh against unforgiving wood, iron stakes pounded through bone and wracked nerves, joints wrenched out of socked by the sheer dead weight of the body, public humiliation before the eyes of family, friends, and the world — that was death on the cross, ‘the infamous stake’ as the Romans called it, ‘the barren wood, ’ the maxima mala crux. Or as the Greeks spat it out, the stauros. No wonder no one talked about it. No wonder parents hid their children’s eyes from it. The stauros was a loathsome thing, and the one who dies on it was loathsome too, a vile criminal whose only use was to hang there as a putrid decaying warning to anyone else who might follow his example.
That is how Jesus died.”
— Greg Gilbert
"The Gospel: God's Self-Substitution for Sinners" in Don't Call It a Comeback, ed. Kevin DeYoung
(Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2011), 72
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Naaawwwwwww :)…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“Consider that the saints’ dying-day is to them the Lord’s pay-day. Every prayer shall then have its answer; all hungerings and thirstings shall be filled and satisfied; every sigh, groan, and tear that has fallen from the saints’ eyes shall then be recompensed.
Then they shall be paid and recompensed for all public service, and all family service, and all closet service. Then a crown shall be set upon their heads, and glorious robes put upon their backs, and golden scepters put into their hands; their dying-day being the Lord’s payday, they shall hear the Lord saying to them, ‘Well done, good and faithful servants, enter into your Master’s joy’ (Mat. 15:21).
Then God will make good all those golden and glorious promises that he has made to them, especially these which are here cited (Rev. 2:10, 3:4, 12, 22, and 7:16–17.) Now God will give them gold for brass, and silver for iron, felicity for misery, plenty for poverty, honor for dishonor, freedom for bondage, heaven for earth, an immortal crown for a mortal crown!”
— Thomas Brooks
A Believer's Last Day, His Best Day
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*cool perspective* :D
I've always said, you know, that I don't respect people who don't proselytise. I don't respect that at all. If you believe there is a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell, or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that, well, it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward... How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytise? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean, if I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you, and you didn't believe it, and that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.
Penn Jilette, atheist
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“Is not Christ your treasure? Is not heaven your inheritance—and will you murmur? Has not God given you a changed heart, a renewed nature, and a sanctified soul—and will you murmur?
Has He not given you Himself to satisfy you, His Son to save you, His Spirit to lead you, His grace to adorn you, His covenant to assure you, His mercy to pardon you, His righteousness to clothe you—and will you murmur? Has He not made you a friend, a son, a brother, a bride, an heir—and will you murmur?
When you were dead, did not He quicken you? When you were lost, did not He seek you? When you were wounded, did not He heal you? When you were falling, did not He support you? When you were down, did not He raise you? When you were staggering, did not He establish you? When you were erring, did not He correct you? When you were tempted, did not He support you? and when you went in dangers, did not He deliver you?—and will you murmur?
What! you who are so highly advanced and exalted above many thousands in the world? Murmuring suits none so badly as saints.”
— Thomas Brooks
The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod
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I love poetry;
Help me figure you
You are as a sonnet to make sense of:
To paraphrase and to contextualize,
To decode by your form, by your rhyme
Yet never really by what you say.
I scan the lines and count the syllables,
I listen for consonance and for plosives
I look for the turn in the familiar places,
Yet never really read what you say.
But you are as a poet to make sense of:
To imagine and/or to recreate-
I will listen for you, or myself perhaps.
And what shall I do with you when you stop writing?
How will I stop imagining you as you make meaning
And beauty, truth, hope, and a thousand small things that wonder?
(don't know the source sorry)
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Hmmm ....
I frequently hear persons exhorted to give their hearts to Christ, which is a very proper exhortation; but that is not the gospel. Salvation comes from something that Christ gives you, not something that you give to Christ. The giving of your heart to Christ follows after the receiving from Christ of eternal life by faith. It is easy to work our friends up so that they say, “We will give our hearts to Christ,” but they may never do so, after all. If, with broken heart and contrite sigh, they had confessed their guilt, and had penitently cried, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” they might not have looked quite so well, but there would have been more hope of them. We cannot come to Christ unless Christ comes to us, and gives us a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
C.H. Spurgeon
(source: I Will Build My Church) (via The Wanderer)
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“Worship is the gift of participating through the Spirit in the incarnate Son’s communion with the Father.”
— James B. Torrance
Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace
(Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 20
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http://jaesonma.com/be-prepared-for-what-is-coming/
Waaaaaaaaah! But I just wanna do my HSC ... :(
It's scary. And the thing is I completely believe him. Gotta pray for the power to pick up my game ...!
I hope that we'll be ready.
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(a lighter note ... :)
Genesis 26:8
from Unconfusing by denise
When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with* Rebekah his wife.
*Hebrew may suggest an intimate relationship
Why thank you English Standard Version.
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We get ourselves in trouble when we enthrone a method and try to make that method work everywhere, rather than figuring out what is the principle behind the method?” ~ Dave Kraft
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http://timmybrister.com/2011/03/29/lets-tell-them/
couldn't get ANY more straight forward - but if we're still cringing why aren't we trying harder to prevent it.
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Godcrastination No 3!
Here's no. 3!
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'Love is a decision to meet another person’s needs for life without expecting yours to be met'
( http://jaesonma.com/true-love-defined/ )
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"Walking by faith should be like walking through your house on a dark early morning. You cannot see but glimpses of anything, but you know the route so well that you don't stumble or run into anything. And you can do this, for you know that the darkness won't be forever. The sun will rise and the light will come." ~ J. Page [a friend of mine]
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"...God knows this and He is using you in ways you probably don’t even
realize. It always seems to be that way, with God. We are always the last to
know. The reasons for this are only known to God ... " more than watchmen wait for the morning
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"How long until we become new?
When still waters are stirred,
For depths have yet to be probed.
When days disappear into ribbons,
True words are yet spoken.
In shadows and clouds
Rippling across lazy horizons,
Like a secret waiting to be told
Behind the gentlest of lips.
The future is unknown
And so is my heart’s tune,
Sung only to itself
In the flame of burning nothingness.
Beauty is fleeting, they say,
And charm is deceit.
Then why does the stony brook melt
In a flood of molten wonder
When the question has yet to be asked?
Who is the speaker
And the trees that sway gently
While the horizons fade in the silence?
And farcical lines
That mean nothing
Are but a dream of an old man
Whose fear is
To be an only child
Bearing an inheritance of sunlight
Distilled in the windy breeze.
I drift away in my verse
As I forget the sound of your whisper
And the prayer of a desperate heart
Trying anxiously
To play it cool." more than watchmen wait for the morning
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"A sign you’re growing in grace is less bombast about not being a legalist & more humility because you “get” the gospel. A sign you’re growing in grace is less theological arrogance & greater appreciation for diversity in the Body of Christ. A sign you’re growing in grace is you work much harder at remembering names and forgetting slights. A sign you’re growing in grace is that everybody notices it but you. A sign you’re growing in grace is movement from destructive cynicism towards redemptive engagement. Anybody can spew. A sign you’re growing in grace is that you’re less like a drive-by-shooting with criticisms & more of a healing presence. A sign you’re growing in grace is evident when you receive feedback non-defensively and give it clearly & lovingly. A sign you’re growing in grace is evident when people don’t feel like they have to walk on egg shells around you as much. A sign you’re growing in grace is when you say, “I’ll be prayin’ for ya”, and you follow through on at least 50%. A sign you’re growing in grace is committing fewer homicides in your heart of slow drivers. A sign you’re growing in grace is praying for our government rather than simply being cynical about our government. A sign you are growing in grace is that you are more disgusted with your critical spirit than offended by others’ sins." Unconfusing
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“Our Father, every day you give
The food by which our bodies live.
For this we thank you from our heart,
And pray that as we this day start,
You might allow our eyes to see
Your endless generosity.
And grant that when we thus are filled
We may do only what you’ve willed.”
John Piper’s breakfast prayer
“We’re grateful, Father, for this hour
To rest and draw upon your power,
Which you have shown in sun and rain
And measured out to every grain.
Let all this food which you have made
And graciously before us laid
Restore our strength for these next hours
That you may have our fullest powers.”
Piper’s lunch prayer
“How faithful, Father, is your care!
Again, as always, food is there.
Again you have set us before
A meal we pray will mean much more
Than single persons filled with food;
Let there be, Lord, a loving mood.
And as you make our bodies new
Come now and feed our oneness, too.”
Piper’s supper prayer
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
So my friend, whoever you are. Know in your heart: You are entirely unnecessary. Entirely. Unnecessary. You are a profligate extravagance, a superfluous addendum, a needless flourish. The Lord, His universe, His church, His kindgom purposes could so easily do without you. You are completely surplus to requirements...
But you don’t need to be needed. You only think you need to be needed because you’ve forgotten you’re loved. So let me remind you…
You are wanted. You are desired. And not for anything ‘you offer.’ You are surplus to requirements. But our God doesn’t deal in requirements, He enjoys the surplus. He delights in you.
http://paper-angels.blogspot.com/2011/01/you-are-entirely-unnecessary-but.html)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
The link between Christ cancelling my sin on the cross and my sin being conquered is a Holy Spirit empowered will.”
— John Piper
I Act the Miracle
(Minneapolis, Minn.: Desiring God Ministries, Feb. 24, 2011)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”— Abraham Kuyper
I like the imagery - like a little boy being handed his favourite toy. :D
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
an email I sent to a friend some time that week:
'Friends and family don't need to have faith in you that you will do great things; and just because of the type of humans the world is made up of, faith in people is hard to come across. Rather, we just need to have faith in God - and that he will use you.
I have faith in YOU because I have faith in GOD. We are all flawed - but God has such GREAT plans that he can use broken tools in creating a masterpiece - he knows when we will bend and at what points we would snap - and he allows us to be pushed to our limits.
[Things] may be messy but I'm just looking at all these new people you've met the last few weeks - people that will be able to sustain you spiritually - if not to the depth that others will. God has plans for you - he has plans for everyone - but he has a specific plan for you which he will continue to unfold.
I expect to see you [succeed]. Why? I don't have 'faith' that you will run around trying to argue everyone to pieces, or just find 'evidence' to refute their arguments. Instead, we'll just sit back and wait for God to change a few hearts. And hey - If God has [turn everyone in the way to passionate believers] JUST to let [it happen] - why not! It works in the twisted logic of a very creative Creator!
Trust God - and when trust fails there's hope - and when hope fails what is left but faith that something is happening that is great.'
And I have NO IDEA where that advice came from! Well, actually that's not true (:D) It's actually pretty obvious who thought it up. *smile at heavens*
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
'Love is a decision to meet another person’s needs for life without expecting yours to be met'
( http://jaesonma.com/true-love-defined/ )
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
"Walking by faith should be like walking through your house on a dark early morning. You cannot see but glimpses of anything, but you know the route so well that you don't stumble or run into anything. And you can do this, for you know that the darkness won't be forever. The sun will rise and the light will come." ~ J. Page [a friend of mine]
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
"...God knows this and He is using you in ways you probably don’t even
realize. It always seems to be that way, with God. We are always the last to
know. The reasons for this are only known to God ... " more than watchmen wait for the morning
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
"How long until we become new?
When still waters are stirred,
For depths have yet to be probed.
When days disappear into ribbons,
True words are yet spoken.
In shadows and clouds
Rippling across lazy horizons,
Like a secret waiting to be told
Behind the gentlest of lips.
The future is unknown
And so is my heart’s tune,
Sung only to itself
In the flame of burning nothingness.
Beauty is fleeting, they say,
And charm is deceit.
Then why does the stony brook melt
In a flood of molten wonder
When the question has yet to be asked?
Who is the speaker
And the trees that sway gently
While the horizons fade in the silence?
And farcical lines
That mean nothing
Are but a dream of an old man
Whose fear is
To be an only child
Bearing an inheritance of sunlight
Distilled in the windy breeze.
I drift away in my verse
As I forget the sound of your whisper
And the prayer of a desperate heart
Trying anxiously
To play it cool." more than watchmen wait for the morning
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
"A sign you’re growing in grace is less bombast about not being a legalist & more humility because you “get” the gospel. A sign you’re growing in grace is less theological arrogance & greater appreciation for diversity in the Body of Christ. A sign you’re growing in grace is you work much harder at remembering names and forgetting slights. A sign you’re growing in grace is that everybody notices it but you. A sign you’re growing in grace is movement from destructive cynicism towards redemptive engagement. Anybody can spew. A sign you’re growing in grace is that you’re less like a drive-by-shooting with criticisms & more of a healing presence. A sign you’re growing in grace is evident when you receive feedback non-defensively and give it clearly & lovingly. A sign you’re growing in grace is evident when people don’t feel like they have to walk on egg shells around you as much. A sign you’re growing in grace is when you say, “I’ll be prayin’ for ya”, and you follow through on at least 50%. A sign you’re growing in grace is committing fewer homicides in your heart of slow drivers. A sign you’re growing in grace is praying for our government rather than simply being cynical about our government. A sign you are growing in grace is that you are more disgusted with your critical spirit than offended by others’ sins." Unconfusing
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“Our Father, every day you give
The food by which our bodies live.
For this we thank you from our heart,
And pray that as we this day start,
You might allow our eyes to see
Your endless generosity.
And grant that when we thus are filled
We may do only what you’ve willed.”
John Piper’s breakfast prayer
“We’re grateful, Father, for this hour
To rest and draw upon your power,
Which you have shown in sun and rain
And measured out to every grain.
Let all this food which you have made
And graciously before us laid
Restore our strength for these next hours
That you may have our fullest powers.”
Piper’s lunch prayer
“How faithful, Father, is your care!
Again, as always, food is there.
Again you have set us before
A meal we pray will mean much more
Than single persons filled with food;
Let there be, Lord, a loving mood.
And as you make our bodies new
Come now and feed our oneness, too.”
Piper’s supper prayer
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
So my friend, whoever you are. Know in your heart: You are entirely unnecessary. Entirely. Unnecessary. You are a profligate extravagance, a superfluous addendum, a needless flourish. The Lord, His universe, His church, His kindgom purposes could so easily do without you. You are completely surplus to requirements...
But you don’t need to be needed. You only think you need to be needed because you’ve forgotten you’re loved. So let me remind you…
You are wanted. You are desired. And not for anything ‘you offer.’ You are surplus to requirements. But our God doesn’t deal in requirements, He enjoys the surplus. He delights in you.
http://paper-angels.blogspot.com/2011/01/you-are-entirely-unnecessary-but.html)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
The link between Christ cancelling my sin on the cross and my sin being conquered is a Holy Spirit empowered will.”
— John Piper
I Act the Miracle
(Minneapolis, Minn.: Desiring God Ministries, Feb. 24, 2011)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”— Abraham Kuyper
I like the imagery - like a little boy being handed his favourite toy. :D
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
an email I sent to a friend some time that week:
'Friends and family don't need to have faith in you that you will do great things; and just because of the type of humans the world is made up of, faith in people is hard to come across. Rather, we just need to have faith in God - and that he will use you.
I have faith in YOU because I have faith in GOD. We are all flawed - but God has such GREAT plans that he can use broken tools in creating a masterpiece - he knows when we will bend and at what points we would snap - and he allows us to be pushed to our limits.
[Things] may be messy but I'm just looking at all these new people you've met the last few weeks - people that will be able to sustain you spiritually - if not to the depth that others will. God has plans for you - he has plans for everyone - but he has a specific plan for you which he will continue to unfold.
I expect to see you [succeed]. Why? I don't have 'faith' that you will run around trying to argue everyone to pieces, or just find 'evidence' to refute their arguments. Instead, we'll just sit back and wait for God to change a few hearts. And hey - If God has [turn everyone in the way to passionate believers] JUST to let [it happen] - why not! It works in the twisted logic of a very creative Creator!
Trust God - and when trust fails there's hope - and when hope fails what is left but faith that something is happening that is great.'
And I have NO IDEA where that advice came from! Well, actually that's not true (:D) It's actually pretty obvious who thought it up. *smile at heavens*
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Godcrastination 2
Ooopss - forgot I was posting them all. I'm up to no. 10 of 'Godcrastination' at the moment. I'll be posting them over the next few days. :)
This is number 2!
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases…Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is as strong as death, jealousy as fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.”
Songs of Solomon 8:4, 6-7 (ESV)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“If the kingdom is ever to come to our Lord–and come it will–it never will come through a few ministers, missionaries, or evangelists preaching the Gospel. It must come through everyone one of you preaching it, in the shop and by the fireside, when walking abroad and when sitting in the chamber. You must all of you be always endeavoring to “save some.” . . . Make this your resolve, every one of you, that if men perish they shall not perish for lack of your prayers, not for want of your earnest and loving instructions. God give you grace, each one of you, to resolve by all means to save some, and then to carry out your resolution!”
~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Soul Winner, 248-49.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
"The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be loved.
Matthew Henry" ~ Unconfusing
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“Legally pronounced just and claimed by God, engrafted into his Son, believers bear fruit that is not the result of their imitation of Christ’s life but of their being incorporated into Christ and his eschatological resurrection-life in the Spirit.”
— Michael Horton
The Christian Faith
(Grand Rapids, Mi.: Zondervan, 2011), 591
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon,
so that I too may be cheered by news of you.
20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.
21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
22 But you know Timothy’s proven worth,
how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.
23 I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me,
24 and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.
- Philippians 2:19-24
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” - Psalm 119:103 :D
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
' For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?
So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:9-12
Teach me to number my days, my hours, that each moment may be worthy of a life lived unto Christ.' ~Unconfusing.
What would we do differently if we knew we were not going to wake up the next morning?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Oh ... and look what else I found. :D
'Another sign you’re growing in grace. You’ve actually read Nahum and Obadiah. Another sign you’re growing in grace. You catch people “doing it right” in a 3 to 1 ratio to “doing it wrong”. Another sign you’re growing in grace. You don’t try to take 23 items through the 10 item speed check out line at Publix. Another sign you’re growing in grace. You’re in your seat in the worship center 7 minutes early to pray for the service. Another sign you’re growing in grace. On a 2-lane-becoming-1 road, you don’t speed up just to jet around 3 extra cars. Another sign you’re growing in grace. Your repentances come quicker with less pouting, excuses and vain promises. Another sign you’re growing in grace. You throw less pity-parties, because you go to Jesus quicker than to self-contempt. Another sign you’re growing in grace. You talk about your justification 10 times more than your victimization. Another sign you’re growing in grace. You quote Jesus more than you quote Tim Keller.
A sign you’re growing in grace is a commitment to give your spouse focused, unrushed attention at the END of the day. A sign you’re growing in grace is just grabbing a brownie without looking for the biggest or best crust-edged brownie. A sign you’re growing in grace is when you use less labels to dismiss people or marginalize their comments. A sign you’re growing in grace is still being gracious to telemarketers when they call your protected phone number. A sign you’re growing in grace is a commitment to pray for people you’d really rather gossip about. A sign you’re growing in grace is not texting or reading emails on your pda while driving, with or without kids.
Another sign you’re growing in grace. You no longer simply assume if you can pay for something you really can afford it. Another sign you’re growing in grace. You recognize the subtle ways you’re living justification by sanctification. Another sign you’re growing in grace. Your spouse and children are the first to notice the signs. Another sign you’re growing in grace. You get sucker-punched by condemnation for sin less often, but convicted much more.
A sign you’re growing in grace. You don’t use your car horn to curse bad drivers, but appropriately caution & warn them. A sign you’re growing in grace. The gospel still astonishes & humbles you. It’s not just cliche or the name of your tribe. A sign you’re growing in grace. If you USED to be a Dispensationalist, you’re not cynical about those who still are. A sign you’re growing in grace. If you USED to be a Charismatic, you don’t atrophy into dead or dry orthodoxy. A sign you’re growing in grace. If you’re “finally” Reformed, you don’t confuse knowledge with spirituality. A sign you’re growing in grace. You realize that Presbyterian and Reformed types are .07% of the entire Body of Christ. A sign you’re growing in grace. The more you learn about Jesus & the gospel the more you realize how little YOU know.'
Though the spouse and children signs may be a little bit irrelevant to me lol...
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
46 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.” 47 So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people.
48 And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.
—Numbers 16:46-48 (I know the chapter I'm checking out tonight - not very familiar with this particular story...)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“A man does not possess Christ by faith in the way he possesses money in his cupboard or deeds of land, which he takes for granted that he has and yet perhaps never looks at once in a year. No; Christ is as meat that a man feeds on, chews, and digests, and whose stomach works on continually.
Faith is not a sleeping thing, nor merely not doubting that Christ is mine, but a continual active whetting of my thoughts on Christ as mine. It is living on Him and in Him.”
— Thomas Goodwin
A Habitual Sight of Him: The Christ-centered Piety of Thomas Goodwin, ed. Joel Beeke and Mark Jones
(Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2009), 79
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B2xOvKFFz4&feature=player_embedded
(The World's most Typical Person by National Geographic)
Interesting. Not as 'spiritual' as most but worth a glance
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
http://calebyap.tumblr.com/post/3620975755/this-young-boy-is-amazing-he-preaches-it-like-he
This one was really exciting. Though a friend later pointed out to me that it was probably scripted I still have massive amounts of respect for the kid that memorised it - as well as the person who would have written it originally!
I liked it. Watch it - check it out even if you don't read anything else!
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9dpmp_-TY0&feature=player_embedded
Also - this is what it's like when a community receives the new testemant for the first time. Amazing. They have such reverence for the Bible
'A lady has memorised several of the books, and when you're just talking to her she will sometimes recite three, four, five verses in a row.' :) If only we had the same amount of respect for it as they do.
Enjoy!!!
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
This is number 2!
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases…Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is as strong as death, jealousy as fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.”
Songs of Solomon 8:4, 6-7 (ESV)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“If the kingdom is ever to come to our Lord–and come it will–it never will come through a few ministers, missionaries, or evangelists preaching the Gospel. It must come through everyone one of you preaching it, in the shop and by the fireside, when walking abroad and when sitting in the chamber. You must all of you be always endeavoring to “save some.” . . . Make this your resolve, every one of you, that if men perish they shall not perish for lack of your prayers, not for want of your earnest and loving instructions. God give you grace, each one of you, to resolve by all means to save some, and then to carry out your resolution!”
~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Soul Winner, 248-49.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
"The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be loved.
Matthew Henry" ~ Unconfusing
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“Legally pronounced just and claimed by God, engrafted into his Son, believers bear fruit that is not the result of their imitation of Christ’s life but of their being incorporated into Christ and his eschatological resurrection-life in the Spirit.”
— Michael Horton
The Christian Faith
(Grand Rapids, Mi.: Zondervan, 2011), 591
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon,
so that I too may be cheered by news of you.
20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.
21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
22 But you know Timothy’s proven worth,
how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.
23 I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me,
24 and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.
- Philippians 2:19-24
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” - Psalm 119:103 :D
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
' For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?
So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:9-12
Teach me to number my days, my hours, that each moment may be worthy of a life lived unto Christ.' ~Unconfusing.
What would we do differently if we knew we were not going to wake up the next morning?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Oh ... and look what else I found. :D
'Another sign you’re growing in grace. You’ve actually read Nahum and Obadiah. Another sign you’re growing in grace. You catch people “doing it right” in a 3 to 1 ratio to “doing it wrong”. Another sign you’re growing in grace. You don’t try to take 23 items through the 10 item speed check out line at Publix. Another sign you’re growing in grace. You’re in your seat in the worship center 7 minutes early to pray for the service. Another sign you’re growing in grace. On a 2-lane-becoming-1 road, you don’t speed up just to jet around 3 extra cars. Another sign you’re growing in grace. Your repentances come quicker with less pouting, excuses and vain promises. Another sign you’re growing in grace. You throw less pity-parties, because you go to Jesus quicker than to self-contempt. Another sign you’re growing in grace. You talk about your justification 10 times more than your victimization. Another sign you’re growing in grace. You quote Jesus more than you quote Tim Keller.
A sign you’re growing in grace is a commitment to give your spouse focused, unrushed attention at the END of the day. A sign you’re growing in grace is just grabbing a brownie without looking for the biggest or best crust-edged brownie. A sign you’re growing in grace is when you use less labels to dismiss people or marginalize their comments. A sign you’re growing in grace is still being gracious to telemarketers when they call your protected phone number. A sign you’re growing in grace is a commitment to pray for people you’d really rather gossip about. A sign you’re growing in grace is not texting or reading emails on your pda while driving, with or without kids.
Another sign you’re growing in grace. You no longer simply assume if you can pay for something you really can afford it. Another sign you’re growing in grace. You recognize the subtle ways you’re living justification by sanctification. Another sign you’re growing in grace. Your spouse and children are the first to notice the signs. Another sign you’re growing in grace. You get sucker-punched by condemnation for sin less often, but convicted much more.
A sign you’re growing in grace. You don’t use your car horn to curse bad drivers, but appropriately caution & warn them. A sign you’re growing in grace. The gospel still astonishes & humbles you. It’s not just cliche or the name of your tribe. A sign you’re growing in grace. If you USED to be a Dispensationalist, you’re not cynical about those who still are. A sign you’re growing in grace. If you USED to be a Charismatic, you don’t atrophy into dead or dry orthodoxy. A sign you’re growing in grace. If you’re “finally” Reformed, you don’t confuse knowledge with spirituality. A sign you’re growing in grace. You realize that Presbyterian and Reformed types are .07% of the entire Body of Christ. A sign you’re growing in grace. The more you learn about Jesus & the gospel the more you realize how little YOU know.'
Though the spouse and children signs may be a little bit irrelevant to me lol...
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
46 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.” 47 So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people.
48 And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.
—Numbers 16:46-48 (I know the chapter I'm checking out tonight - not very familiar with this particular story...)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“A man does not possess Christ by faith in the way he possesses money in his cupboard or deeds of land, which he takes for granted that he has and yet perhaps never looks at once in a year. No; Christ is as meat that a man feeds on, chews, and digests, and whose stomach works on continually.
Faith is not a sleeping thing, nor merely not doubting that Christ is mine, but a continual active whetting of my thoughts on Christ as mine. It is living on Him and in Him.”
— Thomas Goodwin
A Habitual Sight of Him: The Christ-centered Piety of Thomas Goodwin, ed. Joel Beeke and Mark Jones
(Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2009), 79
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B2xOvKFFz4&feature=player_embedded
(The World's most Typical Person by National Geographic)
Interesting. Not as 'spiritual' as most but worth a glance
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
http://calebyap.tumblr.com/post/3620975755/this-young-boy-is-amazing-he-preaches-it-like-he
This one was really exciting. Though a friend later pointed out to me that it was probably scripted I still have massive amounts of respect for the kid that memorised it - as well as the person who would have written it originally!
I liked it. Watch it - check it out even if you don't read anything else!
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9dpmp_-TY0&feature=player_embedded
Also - this is what it's like when a community receives the new testemant for the first time. Amazing. They have such reverence for the Bible
'A lady has memorised several of the books, and when you're just talking to her she will sometimes recite three, four, five verses in a row.' :) If only we had the same amount of respect for it as they do.
Enjoy!!!
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Monday, April 25, 2011
Godcrastination
Every week for just over a month, I've composed a massive email for close friends consisting of 'random' spiritual insights that I discover while sifting through my google reader account of other peoples blogs. Sometimes I come across things really impacting - short quotes, a youtube video, someone's personal analysis of scripture; and I copy-paste them into the email to send at the end of the week. Its a sort of basic summary of my week spiritually.
Here's the first one...
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“Let us suppose, in the manner of some romances, that a king was betrothed to a beautiful wife, whose picture was sent to him before he himself saw her. But when she set out on her journey to him, she fell sick of some loathsome disease, such as the smallpox or leprosy.
But suppose that he knew before she came to him that she should be restored to her first primitive beauty, and that even though he knew he would be troubled by her disaster, distemper, or disease, he easily quieted himself for that little space of time in which her infirmity, though greatly disfiguring her, was to continue. For he himself would be her physician, the only one who could cure her and restore her to her first perfect beauty, which he know he could and should do. Thus he would show all love and peace toward her, even though her disease was loathsome, in full hope of her recovery.
This is the case between Christ and the church.”
— Thomas Goodwin
A Habitual Sight of Him: The Christ-centered Piety of Thomas Goodwin
(Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2009), 113
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[Suffering] is manure cast on the ground of the Spirit Tree. His goal through this is that we would love that which is lovely a little bit more. His aim is that we would walk in joy more than we did before. His purpose is that we would exhibit more peace even in the midst of this great battle. The Great Gardener is cultivating the fruit of the Spirit.
There is, therefore, nothing extraordinary about what we are going through. There is no special revelation we’re supposed to come away with. We are instead studying in the school of Christ, which has as its end that we would become more like Him.
RC Sproul
(via Ligonier Ministries)
(Extended upon further down)
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32 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of.
33 Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live?
34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.
36 Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.
37 And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power,
38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day,
39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
Deuteronomy 4:32-39
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Oh my brothers and sisters in Christ, if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies and if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay, and not madly to destroy themselves. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.
Spurgeon
(via Tony Reinke) (:D I like!)
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If I had not felt certain that every additional trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I could not have survived my accumulated sufferings.
Adoniram Judson, missionary to Burma
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"Are we really being guided as we thought? How do we know we're on the right track? Is there any such destination as the place we think we're going to? Here faith simply has to suspend judgment on what God is doing. Faith does not know why, but it knows why it trusts God who knows why. We do not trust God because he guides us; we trust God and then we are guided, which means that we can trust God even when we do not seem to be guided. Faith may be in the dark about guidance, but it is never in the dark about God. What God is doing may be a mystery, but who God is is not."
Os Guinness, God in the Dark: The Assurance of Faith Beyond a Shadow of Doubt, p.176.
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“The bad news is far worse than making mistakes or failing to live up to the legalistic standards of fundamentalism. It is that the best efforts of the best Christians, on the best days, in the best frame of heart and mind, with the best motives fall short of that true righteousness and holiness that God requires.
Our best efforts cannot satisfy God’s justice. Yet the good news is that God has satisfied his own justice and reconciled us to himself through the life, death, and resurrection of his Son. God’s holy law can no longer condemn us because we are in Christ.”
— Michael Horton
Christless Christianity
(Grand Rapids, Mi.: Baker Books, 2008), 91
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William Cowper
God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence,
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.
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... Suffering, however, is rarely given as a narrowly targeted response to a very specific sin. God did not find that I have trouble keeping Book 17, Chapter 12, subsection D paragraph four of His law, then check His Great Physicians Desk Reference to send the right anti-biotic for that weakness. Nor did He send this to help me grow a third arm of holiness. That is, this hardship will not bring forth some weird, never-before seen form of righteousness. The changes He has designed for this are incremental, common, plain. Cancer is manure cast on the ground of the Spirit Tree. His goal through this is that we would love that which is lovely a little bit more. His aim is that we would walk in joy more than we did before. His purpose is that we would exhibit more peace even in the midst of this great battle. The Great Gardener is cultivating the fruit of the Spirit.
There is, therefore, nothing extraordinary about what we are going through. There is no special revelation we’re supposed to come away with. We are instead studying in the school of Christ, which has as its end that we would become more like Him. To that end suffering is indeed a great teacher. Her lessons, however, are rather ordinary. When this is over, I pray I will look a little more like Jesus. I pray the same for my wife. It may be His will, however, that she should sooner come to look exactly like Him. Either way, this much I know. Goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
(Juicy Nuggets In the Valley of Death by R.C. Sproul Jr. Mar 08, 2011 ~ wife is suffering from leukaemia - 3rd time she has had cancer - defeated twice already ...)
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I believe that every Christian is a spiritual snowflake. Just like you are literally the only one of your kind, even if you're a twin you're different than your twin. Your fingerprints are different, your teeth are different, and other parts of you are different. Every one of us stamped with absolute uniqueness, we are all creative idiots, in that sense. We are peculiar, we are unique. There's no one like us. We are spiritual snowflakes. And I believe that when the Spirit of God gives to every believer gifts, He gives them individually to each believer absolutely peculiar to that believer.
You say, "Well now wait a minute, John [the preacher]. If I read in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 I read that there are just a few gifts listed there. I mean, a few specific ones. It talks about, for example, the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, distinguishing of spirits, various kinds of tongues, interpretation. And then if you look at Romans chapter 12 you have another list of gifts and you look there and there are just a few suggested there. For example in Romans 12 you have prophecy, service, exhortation, giving, leading, showing mercy." You say, "Well, you know, there's only about a dozen of them listed here. How you going to divide a dozen gifts up among millions of Christians and make them all different?"
Let me tell you how. I believe you have a list of gifts in Romans 12, a list of gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. The fact that they are different shows how much latitude there is in their definition. Paul lists some in the Roman passage, he lists some in the Corinthian passage and there is some duplication and some non‑duplication. And it's almost as if he's just suggesting broad categories. The best way to understand it would be that they're like colors on a palette and each gift would be a color and as God takes His brush and paints you, He dips into different color categories and paints you a unique color. You're not the same as someone else. Even if you had fifteen people or twenty or five thousand who all had a gift of teaching, you could have them all teach and they would all teach differently, uniquely. Why? Well because the category of gift is just that, it's a category into which God dips, as it were, and then again maybe dipping into those other categories to make you unique.
And then there's more than that. Ephesians 4:7 says the measure of Christ's gift. He uses that phrase, "the measure of Christ's gift." He measures out that gift in different ways. You might have a gift of teaching, of gift of showing mercy, a gift of service, a gift of faith or whatever, but the measure by with which you are given that gift might vary. We have many people in this church with the gift of teaching but it's different in each case. So you have the measure of the gift.
Not only that, in Romans 12:3 Paul says when God gives the gift He also gives the measure of faith to operate that gift. So you have your gift measured out and then you have the right amount of faith to operate that gift measured out. A measure of grace, a measure of faith is linked with the measured gift for effective use. And so while all of us have gifts, the Lord is making us very unique. That passage in 1 Corinthians 12 emphasizes this same point from another vantage point. He says there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit. There are varieties of ministries in which those gifts are used but the same Lord. And there are varieties of effects that result from those gifts being used. So you have varieties of gifts, varieties of ministries in which the gifts operate, varieties of effects because you have varieties of grace, if you will, measured out, varieties of faith measured out. Everyone of us comes out as a spiritual snowflake.
People say to me, "What's your spiritual gift?" Well I can't label it and say preaching or teaching. My spiritual gift is that which I do to serve Christ. It's a composite of a number of things. Obviously it would include preaching and teaching and would include perhaps exhortation. Your gift may be a combination of other things but it's you who are absolutely unique. Even Timothy who did so many things, who preached and taught, who did the work of an evangelist, who counseled and exhorted, who had to demonstrate leadership again and again in his life, he had all of those capabilities rolled into one thing but when his gift was addressed it was addressed as if he only had one gift...the gift...the gift that was given to you do not neglect, it says in 1 Timothy 4:14. He received the gift.
So you have a special gift. It's a combination of the colors, as it were, on the palette of giftedness that come together to make you unique and there's nobody like you, absolutely no one like you.
The Christian's Duty in a Hostile World, Part 3; by John MacArthur
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“Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.”
of Yoda, but prompted by my lit tutor: “it will consume you”. more than watchmen wait for the morning
Interestingly enough - if you guys don't know Obi-Wan's apprentice kinda was Darth Vader - but Obi-Wan was the apprentice of Jedi Master Qui-Gon, who is the one who dies in movie 1 (Qui-Gon Nooooooooo!) and his first apprentice went evil too. ...
Just random.
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We are living in turbulent times. These are not the days to take the matters of eternity lightly, it is time to live right & do good.
This year will begin many cataclysmic events that will shake our world. Naturally, government, economics like we have never seen.
But when the world shakes, God’s love remains steady as a rock. Don’t build your life on sand, but build your life on faith in Christ.
Don’t live for the things of this world, or represent the dark side. That is what a lot of others are doing, but all that darkness will fade
Because angels have been released and darkness will cease to hold on to their feeble thrones. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken!
Don’t think that living foolish is cool, because it is ignorance. Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God, live to inspire, serve & love
Don’t think that what happened in Japan won’t happen where you are. There is nothing in this world that’s dependable outside of faith in God
Pray for our brother & sisters in Japan, do what you can to help. Pray for yourself, your city, your world to wake up. The days are evil
Life is short, live every day as if it were your last. If you love well you will live well. Living 4 self is empty. Worry is not worth it.
You may think that the “good guys” seem to never win? Think again. Read the book of Revelation, that is what we are in, I know who wins.
GOD
WAKE UP, JMA
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http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/briefing/library/5445/
Would recommend reading this article next time you're bored - the 'swedish method of Bible Study' - very simple but sounds like it works.. :)
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‘My heart and I’, Elizabeth Barrett Browning
(Don't worry - nothing to do which anything atm - I just love poetry...
Then again, I'm sure we've all had days where 'we're tired, my heart and I')
Enough! we’re tired, my heart and I.
We sit beside the headstone thus,
And wish that name were carved for us.
The moss reprints more tenderly
The hard types of the mason’s knife,
As Heaven’s sweet life renews earth’s life
With which we’re tired, my heart and I.
You see we’re tired, my heart and I.
We dealt with books, we trusted men,
And in our own blood drenched the pen,
As if such colors could not fly.
We walked too straight for fortune’s end,
We loved too true to keep a friend;
At last we’re tired, my heart and I.
How tired we feel, my heart and I
We seem of no use in the world;
Our fancies hang gray and uncurled
About men’s eyes indifferently;
Our voice which thrilled you so, will let
You sleep; our tears are only wet:
What do we here, my heart and I?
So tired, so tired, my heart and I!
It was not thus in that old time
When Ralph sat with me ‘neath the lime
To watch the sunset from the sky.
“Dear love, you’re looking tired,” he said:
I, smiling at him, shook my head.
‘Tis now we’re tired, my heart and I.
So tired, so tired, my heart and I!
Though now none takes me on his arm
To fold me close and kiss me warm
Till each quick breath end in a sigh
Of happy languor. Now, alone,
We lean upon this graveyard stone,
Uncheered, unkissed, my heart and I.
Tired out we are, my heart and I.
Suppose the world brought diadems
To tempt us, crusted with loose gems
Of powers and pleasures? Let it try.
We scarcely care to look at even
A pretty child, or God’s blue heaven,
We feel so tired, my heart and I.
Yet who complains? My heart and I?
In this abundant earth no doubt
Is little room for things worn out:
Disdain them, break them, throw them by!
And if before the days grew rough
We once were loved, used, - well enough,
I think, we’ve fared, my heart and I.
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“If the cross shows me that I am far worse than I had ever imagined, it also shows me that my evil has been absorbed and forgiven. If the worst thing any human can do is kill God’s son, and that can be forgiven, then how can anything else not be forgiven?”
— Rebecca Pippert
Hope Has Its Reasons
(San Francisco, Ca.: Harper & Row, 1989), 104
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"Being humble is not a matter of pretending to be worthless, but is a form of realism, not only regarding the real badness of one's sins and stupidities and the real depth of one's dependence on God's grace, but also regarding the real range of one's abilities. Humble believers know what they can and cannot do. They note both their gifts and their limitations, and so are able to avoid both the unfaithfulness of letting their God-given powers lie fallow and the foolhardiness of biting off more than they can chew."
- J.I. Packer
via Joshua Harris
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“A Substitute has appeared in space and time, appointed by God Himself, to bear the weight and the burden of our transgressions, to make expiation for our guilt, and to propitiate the wrath of God on our behalf. This is the gospel.”
— R. C. Sproul
The Truth of the Cross
(Orlando, Fl.: Reformation Trust, 2007), 81
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Most people today don’t believe that, but it does. Love is not like a glob of gelatin, something with no center, no parts, and no hard edges that easily morphs into whatever shape its container requires. Love has a center and boundaries. It has resources and rules that sometimes constrain, sometimes enable what love does.
That means it’s proper to speak of love’s nature, love’s limits, love’s affirmations, love’s judgments, even love’s discriminations. Love embraces some things. But it excludes others. Love can be angry. Love discerns the difference between right and wrong. Love can say “you must” or “no.” Love can call a fake a fake. Love can—believe it or not—hate.
There are probably a number of reasons why we confuse love with something like gelatin. For one, love has remarkable elasticity. It molds itself around the most unlikely objects. It’s patient and kind. It’s long-suffering and tender. It does not insist on its own way but tries to conform itself to the beloved for the beloved’s good. Indeed, it sacrifices itself for the beloved’s good. Is there anything in the universe so wonderful as love? Yet it’s because love is self-sacrificing, even for its enemies, that we’re tempted to think that it doesn’t have strong edges or a solid center. When we give way to that sort of thinking, we move from talking about love as a glob of gelatin to love as infinite space. It becomes all encompassing. It’s said to be everywhere. Of course, when people say it’s everywhere, we eventually realize it’s nowhere. Then we stop believing in love.
No, there’s a limit to love’s conformities. Some tolerances it cannot grant, some allowances it won’t accept. Love won’t delight in evil, market deception, or trade in untruth. Love rejoices in the truth.
In fact, truth and truth in its different forms, like righteousness and justice, give love its structure—its resources and rules. Ultimately, if not immediately, love demands the truth. It requires righteousness. It judges injustice. Yet it’s at just this point that our understanding of love often gets tripped up. We think of love as willing to overlook treachery and betrayal. Love is forgiving, we say. But this is too simplistic. Love always addresses the betrayer. It faces down the fabricator. It may persist in loving, but it does not abide pretence. It may grant forgiveness, but it will not condone corruption. It commands repentance and calls for atonement. Love always hopes, but it doesn’t bury its head in the sand. It’s realistic and rugged. It counts the cost and then sometimes perseveres, sometimes walks away. How strange love is.
Love can conform, but it cannot compromise. When something calling itself love relies on fiction or foul play, that thing being called love is not love. It’s a perversion or shadow of love. Love has many shadow-like phantoms, things that have the outline of love but lack the substance. Yet these phantoms are almost always likeable at first. The phantom fanaticism, like love, feels rational and looks heroic. The phantom narcissism, like love, sings of romance. The phantom naiveté, like love, walks for miles on end. The phantom all-acceptance, like love, loves the unlovely. The phantom religiosity, like love, bares its neck to the executioner. But all these phantoms are hypocrites and idols, making the right faces but having no heart.
Perhaps this is another reason we have a hard time recognizing love. We all choose the face of our favorite phantom. If we have confused love with romantic feeling, we look for faces happy and soft. If we have confused love with all-acceptance, we look for faces smiling and warm. In all these we confuse the face for the heart. But in a broken and fallen world, how many faces do you think love, real love, wears?
Think about it like this: Love plants and love plucks up. Love kills and love heals. Love breaks down and love builds. Love weeps and love laughs. Love mourns and love dances. Love casts away and love gathers. Love keeps silent and love speaks. How many faces is that?
Love begins not on the face but in the heart. Love is: the heart’s prizing of the beloved. Love is: taking pleasure in the beloved’s good. Love is: delighting in the beloved’s gain. That’s what love is.
Do you see love’s beauty and love’s glory? Love involves a two way, not a one-way, movement. It moves inward and outward at the same time, though the movements are different. Love gains, and the beloved receives: love gains pleasure; the beloved receives honor. The word “selfish” is not right to describe this transaction, but nor is the word “selfless.” Love somehow transcends these things because it gains pleasure in the giving of itself. This is love’s beauty. What is beauty? Beauty is the power of attraction. And just as the faces of beauty in this world tempt men to worship, so the beautiful vision of the lover prizing the beloved attracts us to worship love itself.
Notice, this is also the glory of love—it’s resplendent beauty. It’s beauty and glory are one and the same.
Holiness, truth, and wisdom all point to love. What is holiness? It’s the single-minded commitment to the glory and beauty of love. What is truth? It’s the servant that points to the glory and beauty of love. What is wisdom? It’s the ability to discern truth pointing toward love in the places that we least expect to find love.
What, finally, is love? The right question is not what, but who. Who is love? God is love. And God’s love is holy, just, and wise, because God is holy, just, and wise. These, indeed, are what give love its structure.
Original Preface to 'The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love'
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“In both its precepts and penalty, the law of God in its most exacting requirements was fulfilled by Jesus. And He did this in our place as our representative and our substitute.”
— Jerry Bridges
The Discipline of Grace: God's Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness
(Colorado Springs, Co.: NavPress, 1994), 58
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“A young minister, while visiting the cabin of a veteran Scotch woman who had grown ripe in experience, said to her, ‘Nannie, what if, after all your prayers and watching and waiting, God should allow your soul to be eternally lost?’
Looking at the youthful novice in divinity, she replied, ‘Ah, let me tell you, that God would have the greatest loss. Poor me would lose her soul, and that would be a great loss; but God would lose his honor and his character. If he broke his word, he would make himself a liar, and the universe would go to ruin.’
The veteran believer was right. Our only real ground of salvation lies in God’s everlasting word.”
— Theodore Cuyler
"Wayside Springs"
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“The pattern of the Cross means that the world’s glorification of power, might, and status is exposed and defeated. On the Cross Christ wins through losing, triumphs through defeat, achieves power through weakness and service, comes to wealth via giving all away. Jesus Christ turns the values of the world upside down.”
— Timothy Keller
The Reason for God
(New York, NY: Dutton, 2008), 196
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Here's the first one...
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“Let us suppose, in the manner of some romances, that a king was betrothed to a beautiful wife, whose picture was sent to him before he himself saw her. But when she set out on her journey to him, she fell sick of some loathsome disease, such as the smallpox or leprosy.
But suppose that he knew before she came to him that she should be restored to her first primitive beauty, and that even though he knew he would be troubled by her disaster, distemper, or disease, he easily quieted himself for that little space of time in which her infirmity, though greatly disfiguring her, was to continue. For he himself would be her physician, the only one who could cure her and restore her to her first perfect beauty, which he know he could and should do. Thus he would show all love and peace toward her, even though her disease was loathsome, in full hope of her recovery.
This is the case between Christ and the church.”
— Thomas Goodwin
A Habitual Sight of Him: The Christ-centered Piety of Thomas Goodwin
(Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2009), 113
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[Suffering] is manure cast on the ground of the Spirit Tree. His goal through this is that we would love that which is lovely a little bit more. His aim is that we would walk in joy more than we did before. His purpose is that we would exhibit more peace even in the midst of this great battle. The Great Gardener is cultivating the fruit of the Spirit.
There is, therefore, nothing extraordinary about what we are going through. There is no special revelation we’re supposed to come away with. We are instead studying in the school of Christ, which has as its end that we would become more like Him.
RC Sproul
(via Ligonier Ministries)
(Extended upon further down)
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32 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of.
33 Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live?
34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.
36 Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.
37 And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power,
38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day,
39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
Deuteronomy 4:32-39
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Oh my brothers and sisters in Christ, if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies and if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay, and not madly to destroy themselves. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.
Spurgeon
(via Tony Reinke) (:D I like!)
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If I had not felt certain that every additional trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I could not have survived my accumulated sufferings.
Adoniram Judson, missionary to Burma
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"Are we really being guided as we thought? How do we know we're on the right track? Is there any such destination as the place we think we're going to? Here faith simply has to suspend judgment on what God is doing. Faith does not know why, but it knows why it trusts God who knows why. We do not trust God because he guides us; we trust God and then we are guided, which means that we can trust God even when we do not seem to be guided. Faith may be in the dark about guidance, but it is never in the dark about God. What God is doing may be a mystery, but who God is is not."
Os Guinness, God in the Dark: The Assurance of Faith Beyond a Shadow of Doubt, p.176.
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“The bad news is far worse than making mistakes or failing to live up to the legalistic standards of fundamentalism. It is that the best efforts of the best Christians, on the best days, in the best frame of heart and mind, with the best motives fall short of that true righteousness and holiness that God requires.
Our best efforts cannot satisfy God’s justice. Yet the good news is that God has satisfied his own justice and reconciled us to himself through the life, death, and resurrection of his Son. God’s holy law can no longer condemn us because we are in Christ.”
— Michael Horton
Christless Christianity
(Grand Rapids, Mi.: Baker Books, 2008), 91
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William Cowper
God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence,
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.
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... Suffering, however, is rarely given as a narrowly targeted response to a very specific sin. God did not find that I have trouble keeping Book 17, Chapter 12, subsection D paragraph four of His law, then check His Great Physicians Desk Reference to send the right anti-biotic for that weakness. Nor did He send this to help me grow a third arm of holiness. That is, this hardship will not bring forth some weird, never-before seen form of righteousness. The changes He has designed for this are incremental, common, plain. Cancer is manure cast on the ground of the Spirit Tree. His goal through this is that we would love that which is lovely a little bit more. His aim is that we would walk in joy more than we did before. His purpose is that we would exhibit more peace even in the midst of this great battle. The Great Gardener is cultivating the fruit of the Spirit.
There is, therefore, nothing extraordinary about what we are going through. There is no special revelation we’re supposed to come away with. We are instead studying in the school of Christ, which has as its end that we would become more like Him. To that end suffering is indeed a great teacher. Her lessons, however, are rather ordinary. When this is over, I pray I will look a little more like Jesus. I pray the same for my wife. It may be His will, however, that she should sooner come to look exactly like Him. Either way, this much I know. Goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
(Juicy Nuggets In the Valley of Death by R.C. Sproul Jr. Mar 08, 2011 ~ wife is suffering from leukaemia - 3rd time she has had cancer - defeated twice already ...)
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I believe that every Christian is a spiritual snowflake. Just like you are literally the only one of your kind, even if you're a twin you're different than your twin. Your fingerprints are different, your teeth are different, and other parts of you are different. Every one of us stamped with absolute uniqueness, we are all creative idiots, in that sense. We are peculiar, we are unique. There's no one like us. We are spiritual snowflakes. And I believe that when the Spirit of God gives to every believer gifts, He gives them individually to each believer absolutely peculiar to that believer.
You say, "Well now wait a minute, John [the preacher]. If I read in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 I read that there are just a few gifts listed there. I mean, a few specific ones. It talks about, for example, the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, distinguishing of spirits, various kinds of tongues, interpretation. And then if you look at Romans chapter 12 you have another list of gifts and you look there and there are just a few suggested there. For example in Romans 12 you have prophecy, service, exhortation, giving, leading, showing mercy." You say, "Well, you know, there's only about a dozen of them listed here. How you going to divide a dozen gifts up among millions of Christians and make them all different?"
Let me tell you how. I believe you have a list of gifts in Romans 12, a list of gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. The fact that they are different shows how much latitude there is in their definition. Paul lists some in the Roman passage, he lists some in the Corinthian passage and there is some duplication and some non‑duplication. And it's almost as if he's just suggesting broad categories. The best way to understand it would be that they're like colors on a palette and each gift would be a color and as God takes His brush and paints you, He dips into different color categories and paints you a unique color. You're not the same as someone else. Even if you had fifteen people or twenty or five thousand who all had a gift of teaching, you could have them all teach and they would all teach differently, uniquely. Why? Well because the category of gift is just that, it's a category into which God dips, as it were, and then again maybe dipping into those other categories to make you unique.
And then there's more than that. Ephesians 4:7 says the measure of Christ's gift. He uses that phrase, "the measure of Christ's gift." He measures out that gift in different ways. You might have a gift of teaching, of gift of showing mercy, a gift of service, a gift of faith or whatever, but the measure by with which you are given that gift might vary. We have many people in this church with the gift of teaching but it's different in each case. So you have the measure of the gift.
Not only that, in Romans 12:3 Paul says when God gives the gift He also gives the measure of faith to operate that gift. So you have your gift measured out and then you have the right amount of faith to operate that gift measured out. A measure of grace, a measure of faith is linked with the measured gift for effective use. And so while all of us have gifts, the Lord is making us very unique. That passage in 1 Corinthians 12 emphasizes this same point from another vantage point. He says there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit. There are varieties of ministries in which those gifts are used but the same Lord. And there are varieties of effects that result from those gifts being used. So you have varieties of gifts, varieties of ministries in which the gifts operate, varieties of effects because you have varieties of grace, if you will, measured out, varieties of faith measured out. Everyone of us comes out as a spiritual snowflake.
People say to me, "What's your spiritual gift?" Well I can't label it and say preaching or teaching. My spiritual gift is that which I do to serve Christ. It's a composite of a number of things. Obviously it would include preaching and teaching and would include perhaps exhortation. Your gift may be a combination of other things but it's you who are absolutely unique. Even Timothy who did so many things, who preached and taught, who did the work of an evangelist, who counseled and exhorted, who had to demonstrate leadership again and again in his life, he had all of those capabilities rolled into one thing but when his gift was addressed it was addressed as if he only had one gift...the gift...the gift that was given to you do not neglect, it says in 1 Timothy 4:14. He received the gift.
So you have a special gift. It's a combination of the colors, as it were, on the palette of giftedness that come together to make you unique and there's nobody like you, absolutely no one like you.
The Christian's Duty in a Hostile World, Part 3; by John MacArthur
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“Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.”
of Yoda, but prompted by my lit tutor: “it will consume you”. more than watchmen wait for the morning
Interestingly enough - if you guys don't know Obi-Wan's apprentice kinda was Darth Vader - but Obi-Wan was the apprentice of Jedi Master Qui-Gon, who is the one who dies in movie 1 (Qui-Gon Nooooooooo!) and his first apprentice went evil too. ...
Just random.
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We are living in turbulent times. These are not the days to take the matters of eternity lightly, it is time to live right & do good.This year will begin many cataclysmic events that will shake our world. Naturally, government, economics like we have never seen.
But when the world shakes, God’s love remains steady as a rock. Don’t build your life on sand, but build your life on faith in Christ.
Don’t live for the things of this world, or represent the dark side. That is what a lot of others are doing, but all that darkness will fade
Because angels have been released and darkness will cease to hold on to their feeble thrones. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken!
Don’t think that living foolish is cool, because it is ignorance. Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God, live to inspire, serve & love
Don’t think that what happened in Japan won’t happen where you are. There is nothing in this world that’s dependable outside of faith in God
Pray for our brother & sisters in Japan, do what you can to help. Pray for yourself, your city, your world to wake up. The days are evil
Life is short, live every day as if it were your last. If you love well you will live well. Living 4 self is empty. Worry is not worth it.
You may think that the “good guys” seem to never win? Think again. Read the book of Revelation, that is what we are in, I know who wins.
GOD
WAKE UP, JMA
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http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/briefing/library/5445/
Would recommend reading this article next time you're bored - the 'swedish method of Bible Study' - very simple but sounds like it works.. :)
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‘My heart and I’, Elizabeth Barrett Browning
(Don't worry - nothing to do which anything atm - I just love poetry...
Then again, I'm sure we've all had days where 'we're tired, my heart and I')
Enough! we’re tired, my heart and I.
We sit beside the headstone thus,
And wish that name were carved for us.
The moss reprints more tenderly
The hard types of the mason’s knife,
As Heaven’s sweet life renews earth’s life
With which we’re tired, my heart and I.
You see we’re tired, my heart and I.
We dealt with books, we trusted men,
And in our own blood drenched the pen,
As if such colors could not fly.
We walked too straight for fortune’s end,
We loved too true to keep a friend;
At last we’re tired, my heart and I.
How tired we feel, my heart and I
We seem of no use in the world;
Our fancies hang gray and uncurled
About men’s eyes indifferently;
Our voice which thrilled you so, will let
You sleep; our tears are only wet:
What do we here, my heart and I?
So tired, so tired, my heart and I!
It was not thus in that old time
When Ralph sat with me ‘neath the lime
To watch the sunset from the sky.
“Dear love, you’re looking tired,” he said:
I, smiling at him, shook my head.
‘Tis now we’re tired, my heart and I.
So tired, so tired, my heart and I!
Though now none takes me on his arm
To fold me close and kiss me warm
Till each quick breath end in a sigh
Of happy languor. Now, alone,
We lean upon this graveyard stone,
Uncheered, unkissed, my heart and I.
Tired out we are, my heart and I.
Suppose the world brought diadems
To tempt us, crusted with loose gems
Of powers and pleasures? Let it try.
We scarcely care to look at even
A pretty child, or God’s blue heaven,
We feel so tired, my heart and I.
Yet who complains? My heart and I?
In this abundant earth no doubt
Is little room for things worn out:
Disdain them, break them, throw them by!
And if before the days grew rough
We once were loved, used, - well enough,
I think, we’ve fared, my heart and I.
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“If the cross shows me that I am far worse than I had ever imagined, it also shows me that my evil has been absorbed and forgiven. If the worst thing any human can do is kill God’s son, and that can be forgiven, then how can anything else not be forgiven?”
— Rebecca Pippert
Hope Has Its Reasons
(San Francisco, Ca.: Harper & Row, 1989), 104
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"Being humble is not a matter of pretending to be worthless, but is a form of realism, not only regarding the real badness of one's sins and stupidities and the real depth of one's dependence on God's grace, but also regarding the real range of one's abilities. Humble believers know what they can and cannot do. They note both their gifts and their limitations, and so are able to avoid both the unfaithfulness of letting their God-given powers lie fallow and the foolhardiness of biting off more than they can chew."
- J.I. Packer
via Joshua Harris
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“A Substitute has appeared in space and time, appointed by God Himself, to bear the weight and the burden of our transgressions, to make expiation for our guilt, and to propitiate the wrath of God on our behalf. This is the gospel.”
— R. C. Sproul
The Truth of the Cross
(Orlando, Fl.: Reformation Trust, 2007), 81
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Most people today don’t believe that, but it does. Love is not like a glob of gelatin, something with no center, no parts, and no hard edges that easily morphs into whatever shape its container requires. Love has a center and boundaries. It has resources and rules that sometimes constrain, sometimes enable what love does.
That means it’s proper to speak of love’s nature, love’s limits, love’s affirmations, love’s judgments, even love’s discriminations. Love embraces some things. But it excludes others. Love can be angry. Love discerns the difference between right and wrong. Love can say “you must” or “no.” Love can call a fake a fake. Love can—believe it or not—hate.
There are probably a number of reasons why we confuse love with something like gelatin. For one, love has remarkable elasticity. It molds itself around the most unlikely objects. It’s patient and kind. It’s long-suffering and tender. It does not insist on its own way but tries to conform itself to the beloved for the beloved’s good. Indeed, it sacrifices itself for the beloved’s good. Is there anything in the universe so wonderful as love? Yet it’s because love is self-sacrificing, even for its enemies, that we’re tempted to think that it doesn’t have strong edges or a solid center. When we give way to that sort of thinking, we move from talking about love as a glob of gelatin to love as infinite space. It becomes all encompassing. It’s said to be everywhere. Of course, when people say it’s everywhere, we eventually realize it’s nowhere. Then we stop believing in love.
No, there’s a limit to love’s conformities. Some tolerances it cannot grant, some allowances it won’t accept. Love won’t delight in evil, market deception, or trade in untruth. Love rejoices in the truth.
In fact, truth and truth in its different forms, like righteousness and justice, give love its structure—its resources and rules. Ultimately, if not immediately, love demands the truth. It requires righteousness. It judges injustice. Yet it’s at just this point that our understanding of love often gets tripped up. We think of love as willing to overlook treachery and betrayal. Love is forgiving, we say. But this is too simplistic. Love always addresses the betrayer. It faces down the fabricator. It may persist in loving, but it does not abide pretence. It may grant forgiveness, but it will not condone corruption. It commands repentance and calls for atonement. Love always hopes, but it doesn’t bury its head in the sand. It’s realistic and rugged. It counts the cost and then sometimes perseveres, sometimes walks away. How strange love is.
Love can conform, but it cannot compromise. When something calling itself love relies on fiction or foul play, that thing being called love is not love. It’s a perversion or shadow of love. Love has many shadow-like phantoms, things that have the outline of love but lack the substance. Yet these phantoms are almost always likeable at first. The phantom fanaticism, like love, feels rational and looks heroic. The phantom narcissism, like love, sings of romance. The phantom naiveté, like love, walks for miles on end. The phantom all-acceptance, like love, loves the unlovely. The phantom religiosity, like love, bares its neck to the executioner. But all these phantoms are hypocrites and idols, making the right faces but having no heart.
Perhaps this is another reason we have a hard time recognizing love. We all choose the face of our favorite phantom. If we have confused love with romantic feeling, we look for faces happy and soft. If we have confused love with all-acceptance, we look for faces smiling and warm. In all these we confuse the face for the heart. But in a broken and fallen world, how many faces do you think love, real love, wears?
Think about it like this: Love plants and love plucks up. Love kills and love heals. Love breaks down and love builds. Love weeps and love laughs. Love mourns and love dances. Love casts away and love gathers. Love keeps silent and love speaks. How many faces is that?
Love begins not on the face but in the heart. Love is: the heart’s prizing of the beloved. Love is: taking pleasure in the beloved’s good. Love is: delighting in the beloved’s gain. That’s what love is.
Do you see love’s beauty and love’s glory? Love involves a two way, not a one-way, movement. It moves inward and outward at the same time, though the movements are different. Love gains, and the beloved receives: love gains pleasure; the beloved receives honor. The word “selfish” is not right to describe this transaction, but nor is the word “selfless.” Love somehow transcends these things because it gains pleasure in the giving of itself. This is love’s beauty. What is beauty? Beauty is the power of attraction. And just as the faces of beauty in this world tempt men to worship, so the beautiful vision of the lover prizing the beloved attracts us to worship love itself.
Notice, this is also the glory of love—it’s resplendent beauty. It’s beauty and glory are one and the same.
Holiness, truth, and wisdom all point to love. What is holiness? It’s the single-minded commitment to the glory and beauty of love. What is truth? It’s the servant that points to the glory and beauty of love. What is wisdom? It’s the ability to discern truth pointing toward love in the places that we least expect to find love.
What, finally, is love? The right question is not what, but who. Who is love? God is love. And God’s love is holy, just, and wise, because God is holy, just, and wise. These, indeed, are what give love its structure.
Original Preface to 'The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love'
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“In both its precepts and penalty, the law of God in its most exacting requirements was fulfilled by Jesus. And He did this in our place as our representative and our substitute.”
— Jerry Bridges
The Discipline of Grace: God's Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness
(Colorado Springs, Co.: NavPress, 1994), 58
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“A young minister, while visiting the cabin of a veteran Scotch woman who had grown ripe in experience, said to her, ‘Nannie, what if, after all your prayers and watching and waiting, God should allow your soul to be eternally lost?’
Looking at the youthful novice in divinity, she replied, ‘Ah, let me tell you, that God would have the greatest loss. Poor me would lose her soul, and that would be a great loss; but God would lose his honor and his character. If he broke his word, he would make himself a liar, and the universe would go to ruin.’
The veteran believer was right. Our only real ground of salvation lies in God’s everlasting word.”
— Theodore Cuyler
"Wayside Springs"
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………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………“The pattern of the Cross means that the world’s glorification of power, might, and status is exposed and defeated. On the Cross Christ wins through losing, triumphs through defeat, achieves power through weakness and service, comes to wealth via giving all away. Jesus Christ turns the values of the world upside down.”
— Timothy Keller
The Reason for God
(New York, NY: Dutton, 2008), 196
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