I would encourage us to make the following resolution, by God's grace, for the coming year. They are taken from this past Sunday's sermon.
Resolved, by God’s grace, to respond to circumstances that do not go the way I think with humility and contentment resting in the providence of God’s sovereignty to bring about my good and His glory.
Resolved, by God’s grace, to make much of Jesus, that He might be magnified and increase in pre-eminence in my life and our church’s life during the coming year.
Resolved, by God’s grace, to humble myself under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt me in due time according to His will and purpose and providence.
Resolved, by God’s grace, to be a point man/woman for the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
God bless you all in the coming year.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Looking Forward
The New Year is upon us--quite frankly, I am still wondering where the last one went.
The New Year brings much time to reflect and evaluate while looking forward to where God may be leading us.
A couple of often quoted verses at this time of year is Philippians 3:13 and 14 - "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but on thing I do forgetting those those things which are behind and reaching forward to those thing things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
Because the bible is full of exhortations to "remember" and "do not forget", I'm not sure these verses mean what we have always seem to take them to mean.
I believe Paul is at the very least referring to forgetting those things in the past that held him back from pursuing Jesus Christ with vigor--maybe those things from our past that seem to haunt us and slow us down and impede our progress of pursuing Jesus, false religion, false righteousness--those things which have not aided his pursuit of the upward call of Jesus Christ--knowing Him and making Him know to all nations.
Therefore, what do you need to forget, to neglect, to disregard in order for 2009 to be a year of making much of Jesus and pursuing Him with every ounce of your being?
The New Year brings much time to reflect and evaluate while looking forward to where God may be leading us.
A couple of often quoted verses at this time of year is Philippians 3:13 and 14 - "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but on thing I do forgetting those those things which are behind and reaching forward to those thing things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
Because the bible is full of exhortations to "remember" and "do not forget", I'm not sure these verses mean what we have always seem to take them to mean.
I believe Paul is at the very least referring to forgetting those things in the past that held him back from pursuing Jesus Christ with vigor--maybe those things from our past that seem to haunt us and slow us down and impede our progress of pursuing Jesus, false religion, false righteousness--those things which have not aided his pursuit of the upward call of Jesus Christ--knowing Him and making Him know to all nations.
Therefore, what do you need to forget, to neglect, to disregard in order for 2009 to be a year of making much of Jesus and pursuing Him with every ounce of your being?
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Good Morning
We pray that everyone had a very Merry Christmas. The New Year is upon us and we pray for a renewed vigor for the glory of God and the mission of Jesus. May we continue to be faithful in all that Jesus calls us to do as we listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
God bless you all!
God bless you all!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
A Reprint
The following is the last blog posted on the other site reprinted here:
December 21, 2008
I sit here in my study this morning with a burden. In fact, I am finding it difficult to express the burden with the right words.
One of the more difficult realities of the Christian life to admit and come to grips with--particularly as parents--is the reaping what we sow principle.
Though we are quick to point it out in general terms, we are rarely comfortable with applying it specifically to our lives or to the lives of those we are close to.
Galatians 6:8 - Do not be deceived. God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Much has been said concerning the youth of our day. But, I wonder...
Is what we are seeing among our youth in their neglect of Jesus and the church, their lack of receptivity to spiritual counsel and guidance, the worldliness that pervades their lives a reflection of we have sown into their lives over the years?
Instead of the culprit being the "big bad culture", could it be that we, parents and the church, have caved in to the "pressures" of life so much so that we have neglected the intentionality of teaching, training, and leading the next generation to love Jesus?
It seems that we have just expected the next generation just to "get it", whatever it is, concerning Jesus and Christianity as if Jesus were some kind of cold they could pick up while just hanging out with Christian friends at church for 2 (probably less) hours on Sunday or Wednesday.
Through our neglect of intentional training and teaching in the home and the church, the primary agent left to influence the next generation has been Satan through his deception and wicked schemes to which sometimes we reply, "that's just teenage rebellion, everybody goes through it."
For some of us, that is a cop out because we do not want to admit that we made serious mistakes in our parenting because instead of young people who love Jesus with all their heart, we have a generation of young people who are playing church, acting like the world, full of idolatry, living deceptive lives and faking it for the church body so everybody thinks that "we are doing a good job."
And, even if we are willing to admit some mistakes, we are many times un-willing to do the hard work and sacrifice that it will take to turn the hearts of the next generation back to Jesus.
Instead, we continue on as before--no true repentance of our sin, no true remorse for raising up a generation of plastic Christian young people who resemble the idolaters of the Old Testament more than radical disciples of Jesus in the New.
But, wait--what if we are the biggest idolaters of them all? What if the next generation is plastic because what they see from us is plastic--that Christianity is just something we reserve for church on Sundays, but Monday through Saturday is "our" time? What if they see that even our service in the church is for us and really not for Jesus? What if they see us make sacrifices for everything else in life, but not for Jesus? What if we have made an idol of the status quo of our culture and our peer group? What if we are trying to keep up with what our peer group thinks is important in the life of the next generation? What if we have made an idol out of the next generation? What if from our neglect and idolatry of the "good life" and the "wanting our kids to have what we didn't have" mentality, the next generation has taken everything a step further away from a true understanding of what it means to follow Jesus?
Could this have been what God meant in Exodus 20 - "...you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments."
What if by offering them "opportunities" to excel and succeed from the world's perspective, we have un-intentionally been feeding an appetite of fleshly desires (the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life) that has overcome them and now we are reaping what we have sown? What if we have percipitated our children to bowing down to idols--the good things have now become god-things and now they "hate" God in that they prefer everything else (their fleshly desires and the appetite for the world's goods) more than Jesus?
What if...
My burden is heavy and the solution will require some very difficult soul-searching and repentance on our part--most importantly from the Fathers who have neglected their spiritual responsibility to lead their families.
Drastic times call for drastic measures--are we up to the task, dads?
December 21, 2008
I sit here in my study this morning with a burden. In fact, I am finding it difficult to express the burden with the right words.
One of the more difficult realities of the Christian life to admit and come to grips with--particularly as parents--is the reaping what we sow principle.
Though we are quick to point it out in general terms, we are rarely comfortable with applying it specifically to our lives or to the lives of those we are close to.
Galatians 6:8 - Do not be deceived. God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Much has been said concerning the youth of our day. But, I wonder...
Is what we are seeing among our youth in their neglect of Jesus and the church, their lack of receptivity to spiritual counsel and guidance, the worldliness that pervades their lives a reflection of we have sown into their lives over the years?
Instead of the culprit being the "big bad culture", could it be that we, parents and the church, have caved in to the "pressures" of life so much so that we have neglected the intentionality of teaching, training, and leading the next generation to love Jesus?
It seems that we have just expected the next generation just to "get it", whatever it is, concerning Jesus and Christianity as if Jesus were some kind of cold they could pick up while just hanging out with Christian friends at church for 2 (probably less) hours on Sunday or Wednesday.
Through our neglect of intentional training and teaching in the home and the church, the primary agent left to influence the next generation has been Satan through his deception and wicked schemes to which sometimes we reply, "that's just teenage rebellion, everybody goes through it."
For some of us, that is a cop out because we do not want to admit that we made serious mistakes in our parenting because instead of young people who love Jesus with all their heart, we have a generation of young people who are playing church, acting like the world, full of idolatry, living deceptive lives and faking it for the church body so everybody thinks that "we are doing a good job."
And, even if we are willing to admit some mistakes, we are many times un-willing to do the hard work and sacrifice that it will take to turn the hearts of the next generation back to Jesus.
Instead, we continue on as before--no true repentance of our sin, no true remorse for raising up a generation of plastic Christian young people who resemble the idolaters of the Old Testament more than radical disciples of Jesus in the New.
But, wait--what if we are the biggest idolaters of them all? What if the next generation is plastic because what they see from us is plastic--that Christianity is just something we reserve for church on Sundays, but Monday through Saturday is "our" time? What if they see that even our service in the church is for us and really not for Jesus? What if they see us make sacrifices for everything else in life, but not for Jesus? What if we have made an idol of the status quo of our culture and our peer group? What if we are trying to keep up with what our peer group thinks is important in the life of the next generation? What if we have made an idol out of the next generation? What if from our neglect and idolatry of the "good life" and the "wanting our kids to have what we didn't have" mentality, the next generation has taken everything a step further away from a true understanding of what it means to follow Jesus?
Could this have been what God meant in Exodus 20 - "...you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments."
What if by offering them "opportunities" to excel and succeed from the world's perspective, we have un-intentionally been feeding an appetite of fleshly desires (the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life) that has overcome them and now we are reaping what we have sown? What if we have percipitated our children to bowing down to idols--the good things have now become god-things and now they "hate" God in that they prefer everything else (their fleshly desires and the appetite for the world's goods) more than Jesus?
What if...
My burden is heavy and the solution will require some very difficult soul-searching and repentance on our part--most importantly from the Fathers who have neglected their spiritual responsibility to lead their families.
Drastic times call for drastic measures--are we up to the task, dads?
Friday, December 26, 2008
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