Death, The Christian, and Healing

Death is not the death of the man--but the death of his sin. When a believer dies--his sin dies with him.
As death came in by sin--so sin goes out by death.

The Persians had a certain day in the year wherein they killed all serpents and venomous creatures. Such a day as that, will the day of death be to every believer.
All his serpentine and venomous sins will be forever destroyed! Then he shall never again . . .
be proud,
nor passionate,
nor unbelieving,
nor worldly,
nor neglectful of duty,
nor grieve the Holy Spirit,
nor wound his conscience,
nor break peace with God!

When death takes away a godly man, it takes him away from his sins! And as death rids the believer of all his sins--so it will rid him of all his sorrows. Death cures all diseases, the aching head and the unbelieving heart. --Thomas Brooks

Read the whole thing here

For You!

Is Jesus precious to your heart? Is He the object of your supreme admiration and delight? Does He have your warmest affection? Do you love Jesus? You must light your torch of affection for Christ, at the altar of Calvary. You must go there, and learn and believe what the love of Jesus is to you—the vastness of that love; the self sacrifice of that love; how that love of Christ labored and wept, bled, suffered, and died for you! Can you stand before this love; this love so precious, so great, so enduring, so self-consuming, so changeless; and know that for you was this offering—for you this cross—for you this agony—for you this scorn and insult—for you this death; and feel no sensibility, no emotion, no love to Jesus? Impossible!

Do not be cast down, then, in vain regrets that your love to Christ is so frigid, so fickle, so dubious. Go and muse upon the reality and the greatness of the Savior's love to you, and if love can inspire love, while you muse, the fire will burn, and your soul shall be all in flame with love to God! --Octavius Winslow

Piper books for $5

Today and tomorrow John Piper's books can be ordered online for $5. It has almost been 20 years since I first read Desiring God. My RUF minister put it in my hands and I've never been the same.
If you only buy (and read!) one.... make it Desiring God. Here's my humble ranking of some of Piper's others:
1.) Future Grace--excellent treatment of how God's promises help us battle sin and all types of sins.
2.) When I Don't Desire God, subtitle: Fight for Joy

Men's Lunch

There will be an opportunity for the fellas to meet for lunch tomorrow (aka Wednesday). Here is lowdown:

Gator's Dockside (same shopping plaza on Newberry Rd. that has Starbucks/Moes/Stonewood Grill, et al)

Noon
Bring a friend! contact will connor if you have any questions
(wbconnorATyahooDOTcom 870-4401)

Kanapaha Park 6:30 Tonight!

Nights in the Park, tonite 6:30pm--soccer or volleyball... but great time to simply hang out together...

Psalm 68, help for today's reading

PSALM 68 IS ONE OF THE MOST exuberant and boisterous psalms in the Psalter....68:11: “The Lord announced the word, and great was the company of those who proclaimed it.” ... the only right response to the word of the glorious victory of God in the cross of Jesus Christ is that there be a great company to proclaim it. --DA Carson

Hoping for a Broken Heart

I am too satisfied
with the things I say
the things I do
the attitudes
of heart
that shape my reactions
day
after
day
after day.... *

So I am hoping
for
wise eyes
that are able
to see through
the cloud of
self-righteousness
and see myself
as I actually
am.
I am praying
for
wise ears
that are able
to hear through
the background noise of
well used platitudes
and hear myself
with clarity.
And I am longing
for
a humble spirit
that is willing
to
accept and confess
what You reveal
as You break through
my defenses
and show me
to me.
I am hoping
for
a broken heart.

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." (Psalm 51: 17) * read the whole thing

When the Darkness Will Not Lift

Perhaps our recent look at Psalms 42-43 which raised the topic of spiritual dryness has you thinking, or wrestling. Here is an excellent 83page resource by John Piper... buy it or read it online here.

Impreccatory Psalms

At some point during the summer Psalms series we will meditate upon the glory and goodness of God expressed in the imprecations of the Psalms. A brief John Frame article is helpful for those of you who can't wait until I preach upon it. Also, Tremper Lngman's God is a Warrior

Helps for Psalm 60 & Psalm 61

From Spurgeon's "Treasury of David":
Psalm 60
DIVISION. Properly the song may be said to consist of three parts: the complaining verses, Ps 60:1-3; the happy, Ps 60:4-8; the prayerful, Ps 60:9-12. We have divided it as the sense appeared to change.

Psalm 61
TITLE. To the Chief Musician upon Neginah, a Psalm of David. The original indicates that both the hymn and the musical instrument were David's. He wrote the verses and himself sang them to the stringed instrument whose sound he loved so well. We have left the Psalms entitled Michtam, but we shall still find much precious meaning though the golden name be wanting. We have met with the title of this Psalm before, in Psalms 4, 6, 54, and 55, but with this difference, that in the present case the word is in the singular number: the Psalm itself is very personal, and well adapted for the private devotion of a single individual.

SUBJECT AND DIVISION. This Psalm is a pearl. It is little, but precious. To many a mourner it has furnished utterance when the mind could not have devised a speech for itself. It was evidently composed by David after he had come to the throne,—see Ps 61:6. The second verse leads us to believe that it was written during the psalmist's enforced exile from the tabernacle, which was the visible abode of God: if so, the period of Absalom's rebellion has been most suitably suggested as the date of its authorship, and Delitzsch is correct in entitling it, "Prayer and thanksgiving of an expelled King on his way back to his throne." We might divide the verses according to the sense, but it is preferable to follow the author's own arrangement, and make a break at each SELAH.

volleyball 6:30 at kanapaha

Why on earth am I here?

Recommendation of a new book..... A Journey Worth Taking: Finding Your Purpose in This World, by Charles Drew. You can read online the Table of Contents | Introduction | Chapter 1. Here are some blurbs:

David Powlison (who wrote the foreword): "This book bids to teach you a new 'language' for thinking about your life and identity. . . . Listen well as you read. Think hard. Take it to heart. It will be a bit like watching as predawn darkness lightens and brightens into sunrise and then full day. A slow and quiet happening . . . mundane . . . and wonderful beyond telling when you think about it. This is a book to take slowly, so it sinks in."

Tim Keller: “Charles Drew has given us a great book to give away--especially to those who want a purpose-driven life and want to dig more deeply into the mysteries of that purpose. It is at once clear, personal, culturally up-to-date, and theologically rich-- a perfect combination. Drew takes us a step beyond the literature that is presently available on the subject. Highly recommended.”

You simply cannot love God unless you know and understand how much he loves you.

“When you consider what real love for God is you can easily see that you cannot love God in this way if you think you are under the curse and wrath of God. You cannot love God if you are under the continual, secret suspicion that he is really your enemy! You cannot love God if you secretly think he condemns and hates you. This kind of slavish fear will compel you to some hypocritical obedience…you will never truly love God if you are compelled only by fear.

Your love for God must be won and drawn out by your understanding of God’s love and goodness toward you, just as John testifies, ‘There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear consists of torment; the one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us.’

You simply cannot love God unless you know and understand how much he loves you.”
--How To Live a Holy Life by the Power of the Gospel, Bruce McRae’s edited version of Walter Marshall’s classic, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification.

Psalms 57 & 58 are today's readings

You can read them online here:

Outline of Ps57. We have here prayer, Ps 57:1-6, and praise, Ps 57:7-11. David takes in a long breath of prayer, and when he is fully inspired, he breathes out his soul in jubilant song. --Spurgeon

Outline of Ps58:The ungodly enemy is accused, Ps 58:1-5; judgment is sought from the judge, Ps 58:6-8; and seen in prophetic vision as already executed, Ps 58:9-11. --Spurgeon

Paul Alistair MacGregor is here!

Praise God!

MacGregor’s Baby: Paul Alistair
Born: 12:44pm, Monday, June 18, 2007
Weight: 7lbs. 8oz
Height: 20in.

If you would like to bring them a meal, phone Wendy McGovern at 352.495-3658

Brief article by Francis Schaeffer on why we baptize the children of Christians.

Balancing our Keller appreciation

A thoughtful post for Tim Keller fans (make sure you see Keller's comments in the--where else?--comments section.

simple church, fyi

overview of simple church

Godward thoughts as we prepare for Corporate Worship

Tomorrow promises to be a great day in God's presence together. We will:
--sing His praises
--confess our sin
--be reminded of the finished work of Christ in our behalf!
--partake of the Sacrament of Baptism, the promise of God's cleansing grace in visible form
--say our memory verse together (I know it this week!)
--continue our meditation on Psalm 42-43 and the topic of "Spiritual Dryness"
--and more

"He who knows God, who, with faith's eye, has discovered some of His glory, and by the power of the spirit has felt something of His love, will not be at a loss to distinguish between God's sensible presence and absence in the soul." --Octavius Winslow

Using a hymn to build your faith

Promises: bold

Trials: italics

Faith Declarations: underlined

Jesus! What a friend for sinners! Jesus! Lover of my soul;
Friends may fail me, foes assail me, He, my Savior, makes me whole.

{refrain}
Hallelujah! What a Savior! Hallelujah! What a Friend!
Saving! Helping! Keeping! Loving! He is with me to the end!

Jesus! What a strength in weakness! Let me hide myself in Him.
Tempted, tried, and sometimes failing. He, my strength, my vic'try wins.

Jesus! What a help in sorrow! While the billows o’er me roll,
Even when my heart is breaking, He, my comfort, helps my soul.

Jesus! what a guide and keeper! While the tempest still is high
Storms about me, night o'ertakes me, He, my pilot, hears my cry.

Jesus! I do now receive You, More than all in You I find.
You have granted me forgiveness, I am Yours, and You are mine.

Hallelujah! What a Savior! Hallelujah! What a Friend!
Saving! Helping! Keeping! Loving! You are with me to the end!

Reminder & Reflection Redux

Journey of Faith Offerings received June 1-15: $11,935

Journey of Faith pledge money received to date (April 1-June 15): $96,579

On the building... keep praying for our case before the county... we have not heard back from them yet about our site plan.

Psalm 51 and Colin Farrell

Today is Psalm 51.... you could honestly spend a month on it... or longer. Paul Tripp has been writing truly helpful thoughts on it for weeks.

Now this.... Quotes from a meditation on the Gospel of Grace, confession of sin, joyful intimacy, and the movie--Phone Booth:

A NYC promoter, Stu (Colin Farrell), is held captive in a phone booth at the whim of a sniper with a rifle, a laser scope and a telephone. Unless the promoter confesses his hidden sins to his wife, mistress, and colleagues the sniper will kill him.

So Stu confesses....

The Church, as a corporate body, is to do daily life like this movie scene of confession. Why? Because the Church is filled with people who are, in Luther’s words, simul iustus et peccador. In English, this means simultaneously sinning and justified. If we regularly enacted this scene from Phone Booth, we would honestly and brokenly proclaim our peccador-ness. If we confessed our sinfulness to our spouses, children, parents, friends, colleagues, neighbors, then others around us wouldn’t feel the pressure to display only their iustus-ness.

We are scared to death to boast in our weakness because it violates culture (best foot forward, turn your good side to the camera), but if all of us in the Church would boast in our weakness together, we would become a Gospel-suffused community of honesty, brokenness, repentance, grace, forgiveness and restoration. In short, we would be a community of joyful intimacy.

Read the entire post here

R e a d t h i s slowwwwwly.....

The following must be read slowly and repeatedly.... Edwards wrote to a people who could listen very very well to an argument and follow it .... (but our generation kills them at multi-tasking!!)

"True grace is no dull, inactive, ineffectual principle; it is a powerful thing; there is an exceeding energy in it. And the reason is, that God is in it; it is a divine principle, a participation of the divine nature, and a communication of divine life, of the life of a risen Savior, who exerts himself in the hearts of the saints "after the power of an endless life." They that have true grace in them, "they live"; but not by their own life; "but Christ lives in them." His Holy Spirit becomes in them a living principle and spring of divine life, the energy and power of which is in Scripture compared to fire...True piety is nothing remaining only in the head, or consisting in any speculative knowledge or opinions, or outward morality or forms of religion; it reaches the heart, is chiefly seated there, and burns there. There is a holy ardor in everything that belongs to true grace. True faith is an ardent thing, and so is true repentance; there is a holy power and ardor in true spiritual comfort and joy; yea even in true Christian humility, submission, and meekness. The reason is that divine love or charity is the sum of all true grace, which is a holy flame enkindled in the soul."
== (Jonathan Edwards, "True Excellency of a Minister of the Gospel," in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 25: Sermons and Discourses, 1743-1758 [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006], 91).

Rob: might even want to print this out.... great words like "ardor" and "enkindled".... O God, make us a people who experience this holy power & ardor!

Psalm 50

Outline. The Lord is represented as summoning the whole earth to hear his declaration, Ps 50:1-6; he then declares the nature of the worship which he accepts, Ps 50:7-15, accuses the ungodly of breaches of the precepts of the second table, Ps 50:16-21, and closes the court with a word of threatening, Ps 50:22, and a direction of grace, Ps 50:23.

Rain or Shine

Park Nights Tonight is rain or shine with ice-cream afterwards! 6:30pm

Hearing God's Call

Recently I spoke with a friend who is trying to figure out where to invest his life....here is a link to an mp3 lecture by Os Guinness
The Call: Finding and Fulfilling Your Purpose in Life

I am sure this is a presentation of what he wrote in a book entitled, THE CALL. Good stuff.

You can bring everything to Jesus

"I need not exert myself and try to force myself to believe, or try to chase doubt out of my heart. Both are equally useless. It begins to dawn on me that I can bring everything to Jesus, no matter how difficult it is; and I need not be frightened away by my doubts or my weak faith, but only tell Jesus how weak my faith is. I have let Jesus into my heart. And He will fulfill my heart's desire."
--Ole Hallesby, a Norwegian Christian of the last century

Men's Lunch 34th & Archer

Josh Fischer is coordinating a men's lunch--tomorrow!

Wednesday, June 13, around noon at the Bennegin's at Archer Road and SW 34th Street.... all male folk invited

Our Sins are Covered

“In order to have faith you must paint a true portrait of Christ. The scholastics caricature Christ into a judge and tormentor. But Christ is no law giver. He is the Lifegiver. He is the Forgiver of sins. You must believe that Christ might have atoned for the sins of the world with one single drop of His blood. Instead, He shed His blood abundantly in order that He might give abundant satisfaction for our sins. Here let me say, that these three things, faith, Christ, and imputation of righteousness, are to be joined together. Faith takes hold of Christ. God accounts this faith for righteousness. This imputation of righteousness we need very much, because we are far from perfect. As long as we have this body, sin will dwell in our flesh. Then, too, we sometimes drive away the Holy Spirit; we fall into sin, like Peter, David, and other holy men. Nevertheless we may always take recourse to this fact, that our sins are covered, and that God will not lay them to our charge. Sin is not held against us for Christ’s sake. Where Christ and faith are lacking, there is no remission or covering of sins, but only condemnation."
---Martin Luther, Galatians Commentary, 1:14

6:30 tonite... Frisbee Football at Kanapaha Pk

Scandalous Freedom

Those of you who are familiar with grabbing podcasts from Itunes will want to check out the one by Steve Brown called Scandalous Freedom. Great stuff about the radical nature of the gospel of free grace.

Talking to yourself? Or listening to yourself?

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the former pastor and medical doctor from London, described the importance of preaching to ourselves: “Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment [in this psalm] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul?’ he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: ‘Self, listen for moment, I will speak to you.’” Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1965), 20

This Life

This life, therefore, is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness;
not health, but healing; not being, but becoming; not rest, but exercise.

We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it.
The process is not yet finished, but it is going on.
This is not the end, but it is the road.
All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.
--- Martin Luther

When Free Grace is Resisted by Christians

Have you ever wondered....

"Why did people get so angry at the message that God wasn't angry at them? What was so offensive about the doctrine of grace to people who said they believed it? Why did people become so unloving when I told them that God loved them?"

Steve Brown has some suggestions here

Almighty AND With Us

God ruleth on high, almighty to save;
And still he is nigh—his presence we have:
The great congregation his triumph shall sing,
Ascribing salvation to Jesus, our King. --Charles Wesley

How True!

“By the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out, and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But those things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.” (The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams, p. 5)

Stewarding a Season of Spiritual Dryness

Sunday I plan to preach on a Psalm couplet--42&43--they go together... and are about spiritual dryness and depression. I'M ASKING FOR COMMENTS TO THIS BLOG! Just below the quote by Spurgeon you'll see a link that includes the word COMMENTS. Click that link and you can anonymously post particular questions about spiritual dryness and depression... it will help me prepare and pray. Thank you.

I was lying upon my couch during this last week, and my spirits were sunken so low that I could weep by the hour like a child, and yet I knew not what I wept for — but a very slight thing will move me to tears just now — and a kind friend was telling me of some poor old soul living near, who was suffering very great pain, and yet she was full of joy and rejoicing. I was so distressed by the hearing of that story, and felt so ashamed of myself, that I did not know what to do; wondering why I should be in such a state as this; while this poor woman, who had a terrible cancer, and was in the most frightful agony, could nevertheless "rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory." --CH Spurgeon

Night in Park a Success

Softball is the game de jour but many folk are planning to come just to hang out.
6:30pm til 8
@ Kanapaha Park on Tower Rd (aka SW 75th street)

(We will NOT play Americans versus Canadians as results would be as lopsided as the Stanley Cup series.)

UPDATE: DONE

40

I thought it was widely known what an incredible song "40" was, by U2. But I've learned it ain't...
SO--you can read a little background here... then go spend the 99c at itunes, (or 1.29 if you've switched over):

This was the last song written for the album. They had already used an extra week of studio time and needed one more song in a hurry, so Bono opened a bible, read from Psalm 40 of Psalms of David, and they put it to music.

During a live performance on April 29, 1987, Bono joked: "We spent ten minutes writing this song, ten minutes recording it, ten minutes mixing it, ten minutes playing it back, and that's got nothing to do with why it's called '40'."

outline of Psalm 40, per Spurgeon

From Ps 40:1-3, is a personal thanksgiving, followed by a general declaration of Jehovah's goodness to his saints, Ps 40:4-5. In Ps 40:6-10, we have an avowal of dedication to the Lord's will; Ps 40:11-17, contains a prayer for deliverance from pressing trouble, and for the overthrow of enemies.

Recovery from Sin by Faith in Christ

"Stay away from sin if you can. But if you have fallen into sin, you must learn how to get up again and regain a firm faith. These very struggles show us what it means to really believe. We need to realize that sin is a horrible evil. This doesn't seem to be true when we're committing sin. We enjoy it while we are doing it. But after God's laws make us aware of our sin, we realize that sin is hell itself and far more powerful than heaven or earth. After that, we can't understand God's kindness to us without great effort. But a heart burdened by sin can say, 'Even though I have committed many sins, God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world but to save the world. Without this comfort, we would have no remedy or defense against sin and its sting." --Martin Luther, By Faith Alone

Praise God for Progress

In August of 2006 Frank Matthews and I presented a plan for how we planned to lead Christ Community in the coming months. We recently updated the progress God has enabled us to make so far. You can read the update here
Your partnership in the gospel is what has made these things happen. Thank you for joyfully responding to the grace of Jesus Christ that you are receiving.

Jesse Ryan Oates

Jesse was born at 10:29pm
Sunday, June 3rd
to proud parents, Ryan & Kate

8lbs. 3oz.
19in.

All are happy and healthy and at Shands, room #3522

Our Times in God's Hand... what that means

Q. What do you understand by the providence of God?

A. God's providence is His almighty and ever present power,[1] whereby, as with His hand, He still upholds heaven and earth and all creatures,[2] and so governs them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty,[3] indeed, all things, come not by chance[4] but by His fatherly hand.[5]

[1] Jer. 23:23, 24; Acts 17:24-28. [2] Heb. 1:3. [3] Jer. 5:24; Acts 14:15-17; John 9:3; Prov. 22:2. [4] Prov. 16:33. [5] Matt. 10:29.

28. Q. What does it benefit us to know that God has created all things and still upholds them by His providence?

A. We can be patient in adversity,[1] thankful in prosperity,[2] and with a view to the future we can have a firm confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature shall separate us from His love;[3] for all creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they cannot so much as move.[4]

[1] Job. 1:21, 22; Ps. 39:10; James 1:3. [2] Deut. 8:10; I Thess. 5:18. [3] Ps. 55:22; Rom. 5:3-5; 8:38, 39. [4] Job 1:12; 2:6; Prov. 21:1; Acts 17:24-28.

Psalm 39...sorrow, silence, submission

The psalmist, bowed down with sickness and sorrow, is burdened with unbelieving thoughts, which he resolves to stifle, lest any evil should come from their expression, Ps 39:1-2. But silence creates an insupportable grief, which at last demands utterance, and obtains it in the prayer of Ps 39:3-6, which is almost a complaint and a sigh for death, or at best a very desponding picture of human life. From Ps 39:7-13 the tone is more submissive, and the recognition of the divine hand more distinct; the cloud has evidently passed, and the mourner's heart is relieved. ---Spurgeon

Work Day Tomorrow

this note from Rob Hamersma about Saturday's service
Hi folks,
If you are interested in joining us to help serve our community this
Saturday (June 2), we will be meeting at the church house at 8:00 am.
We will be partnering with Christians Concerned for the Community to do
some spring cleaning for a couple of disabled ladies who are able to
keep their apartments tidy enough, but need help with some of the more
significant jobs like moving furniture, vacuuming, dusting, mopping,
etc. We may or may not need cleaning supplies, so please bring whatever
you think might be useful (eg. dusting spray and rags, "swiffer"-type
mop, rubber gloves, etc.). We will also have a group go to Palm Garden,
which is the nursing home where we went Christmas caroling as a church
last year. They could use volunteers to help them facilitate games and
activities for the residents.
So we'll meet at the church house at 8:00 and split up into groups from
there.
Hope to see you then!

How can I make them see their errors?

Every parent and friend (and spouse) has felt this... I see their sin but they don't... I've never thought about Nathan---the guy who God used to help David come to repentance-- as a model for loving others by confronting them in their sin... Paul Tripp does a masterful job reflecting on this:

No shouts
No pointed fingers
No flashing eyes
No red-faced accusations
No inflammatory vocabulary
No bulging forehead veins