God and Our Eating

Sunday we begin 3 weeks on the "stuff of life".
April 6: God and our Eating
April 13: God and our Work
April 20: God and our Sleep

While I won't be able to go in-depth on any of these... I will be seeking to point you to Christ-centered resources along the way

here is a wonderfully gospel-centered testimony of a woman recovering from food idolatry
excerpt: Food is my comfort and the source of my private joys; food is my penance and the place where I am punished; it offers a standard by which I can measure success or failure in my own terms. This idol has promised to mold me and make me—not after its will, but after my own will. As Ed Welch says, “The purpose of all idolatry is to manipulate the idol for our own benefit.”

a working doc

--UNFINISHED--Primer on Deacons

I. The Office of Deacon
A. Its origin. Acts 6:1-6
B. Its purpose. The office of deacon is designed to meet the physical needs of people. However, this ministry is a spiritual ministry, since it arises from spiritual motives (the experience of God's grace, Luke 6:33-36) and makes a spiritual impact (Acts 4:33, Philippians 4:10-20).

The office is one of sympathy and service, after the example of the Lord Jesus; it expresses also the communion of saints, especially in their helping one another in time of need.

Jesus is the Great Deacon... see Mark 10.

II. The Qualifications for the Office
A. Character. Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
1 Timothy 3:8-13 tells us deacons must be:
1.) Realistic & practical ("dignified")
2.) Honest ("not double-tongued")
3.) Simple in their lifestyle ("not greedy")
4.) Practicing what they preach ("holding to the mystery of the faith with clear conscience")
5.) Self-controlled ("not addicted to much wine")
6.) A good leader of his family ("managing his family well")
7.) Experienced in the faith ("tested")
Deacons had better not be phonies nor easily discouraged! The people they will work with can spot phonies and can try patience.


B. Gifts
Romans 12:8 and 1 Corinthians 12:28 tell us of spiritual gifts of "deaconing" (service), "giving", "helps", and "administration" that deacons can have.

III. The Work of the Diaconate
A. Mercy. To meet physical/economic needs inside and outside of the congregation. Visiting the sick, the poor, the elderly, single parent families and helping families in emergencies are included under this heading.
B. Stewardship.
C. Property.
D. Helps.

Note: Although these duties are not necessarily performed by the deacons, the deacons are responsible for their discharge.




Key Events & Dates
Prayer (March 30 thru April 13)
Nominating (April 13 thru April 20)
Training (April 26 through May 17)
Testing, Evaluation, and Encouragement by the Session of Elders
Vote by Congregation (June 1)
Ordination (June 15)

When Love Comes To Town...

that song U2 did w/ BB King is so great... with the chorus

When Love Comes to Town I'm gonna jump that train
When Love Comes to Town I'm gonna catch that flame

the idea throughout the song is of the power Love has in a person's life...
and this reaches apex when BB sings:

I was there when they crucified my Lord
I held the scabbard when the soldier drew his sword
I threw the dice when they pierced his side
But I've seen love conquer the great divide

great day together....

... every time the Church of Jesus Christ gathers it is special... but yesterday when I sat down to lunch I found myself praying for the meal... beginning with these words....

"Thank you, Jesus, that you have brought us into your church."

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

-- Colossians 1:15-20 (English Standard Version, ESV)

I suppose that since most of our hurts come through relationships so will our healing, and I know that grace rarely makes sense for those looking in from the outside.

--William P. Young

Dwell where the cries of Calvary can be heard

“The best preaching is, ‘We preach Christ crucified.’ The best living is, ‘We are crucified with Christ.’ The best man is a crucified man. The best style is a crucified style: may we drop into it! The more we live beholding our Lord’s unutterable griefs, and understanding how he has fully put away our sin, the more holiness shall we produce. The more we dwell where the cries of Calvary can be heard, where we can view heaven, and earth, and hell, all moved by his wondrous passion—the more noble will our lives become. Nothing puts life into men like a dying Savior. Get you close to Christ, and carry the remembrance of him about you from day to day, and you will do right royal deeds. Come, let us slay sin, for Christ was slain. Come, let us bury all our pride, for Christ was buried. Come, let us rise to newness of life, for Christ has risen. Let us be united with our crucified Lord in his one great object — let us live and die with him, and then every action of our lives will be very beautiful.” -C.H. Spurgeon, sermon “To Lovers of Jesus”

Growing in holiness is not not not not not BUT

this is a great small statement on growing in holiness (sanctification)
"I believe the classical Reformed view—that on the one hand, sanctification is not by ‘works’ but by a continuous re-orienting ourselves to our justification. So sanctification is not moralistic. Yet it takes enormous effort (so it is not quietistic.) When we feed on, remember, and live in accordance with our justification, it mortifies our idols and fills us with an inner joy and desire to please and resemble our Lord through obedience. But the feeding on, remembering, and living in accordance—takes all our effort." --Tim Keller

Takes all our effort to feed on, remember, and live in accodance with our absolute acceptance by grace! Stunning. Lord, help my unbelief!

Vows of Church Members

1. Do you acknowledge yourself to be a sinner in the sight of God, justly deserving his displeasure, and without hope, except through his sovereign mercy?
2. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and savior of sinners, and do you receive and trust him alone for salvation as he is offered in the gospel?
3. Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes a follower of Christ?
4. Do you promise to support the church in it's worship and work to the best of your ability?
5. Do you submit yourself to the government and discipline of the church, and promise to strive for its purity and peace?

This Sunday we are scheduled to receive new members. Pray for those who take the vows... and for those who have previously taken them!!!

The Faith He Gives Us Procures His Favor

“We cannot be saved through Jesus Christ, till His righteousness be so far made ours as that it will answer the demands of the law for us, and procure the favour of God to us; but His righteousness cannot be thus imputed to us, or accounted ours in law, till we are so united to Him as to be one in law, or one legal person with Him. Now faith is the bond of union; faith is that which interests us in Christ; and therefore without faith we cannot receive any benefit from His righteousness.”

Samuel Davies

How Goes it With Your Soul?

I've edited some of CJ Mahaney's words here:

If I had the privilege to sit across from someone in (any kind of church leadership position), one of the questions I would ask them is: How goes it with your soul? And I would do my best to draw them out, particularly about the presence or absence of affections for the Savior. So I wouldn’t want to begin with discussing the particulars of ministry or the skills involved for the effective execution of leadership. What I would want to talk to each and every leader [about] first and foremost is: How is it with your soul?

"A singing bird in an open cage ......Who will only fly......... only fly for freedom"

this lyric from U2's WALK ON (album All you can't leave behind)

has absolutely been gnawing at me.... I'm not sure of the original meaning for U2... but for me it has become a tantalizing picture of the struggle with sin.... the temptation to "settle for sin".... the allure of thinking of anything as beautiful or healthy that is prohibited by my all-knowing and wise Father....
and so... day by day... hour by hour... minute by tick-tick minute we refuse the "freedom" to fly around in a house .... because we will wait until there is true freedom... the opportunity to fly around outdoors.... yet we wait with hope!!! the bird is SINGING!

then again, what do i know?

Connor baby born!!!

On Friday March 21, 2008 at 2:13pm Ezra Patrick Douglas Connor was born at the Birth Center of Gainesville, FL. He weighed in at 9 lbs. 12.7 oz.measuring 21 inches in length. Celebrate with Breanna and Will and Big brother Silas and Big sister Lydia

He is not here

And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here.

Tom Wright Quotes on Easter & NEW CREATION

"Heaven is important, but it's not the end of the world." In other words, resurrection means the new earth continues after people have gone to heaven.
-----------------
Because Jesus is raised from the dead, God's new world has begun. We are not only the beneficiaries of new creation; we are the agents of it. I just can't stop preaching about that, because that is where we're going with Easter.
---------------------------
"Our task…is to live as resurrection people in between Easter and the final day, with our Christian life, corporate and individual, in both worship and mission, as a sign of the first and the foretaste of the second."
----------------------------------------

The message of the Resurrection is that this present world matters; that the problems and pains of this present world matter; that the living God has made a decisive bridgehead into this present world with his healing and all-conquering love and that, in the name of this strong love, all the evils, all the injustices, and all the pains of the present world must now be addressed with tire news that healing, justice, and love have won the day. That’s why we pray: “Thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.” Make no bones about it: Easter Day was the first great answer to that prayer.

Holy Saturday People

The prophet Jeremiah (in the book LAMENTATIONS) looks out on chaos and ruin, but the backbone of his poem is a dogged, tearful statement of faith in God's order and purpose.

That is the strange sort of waiting to which Holy Saturday summons us and it's a call that many communities, and many individuals, badly need to hear today, both in the forgotten wastelands of our post-industrial landscape and in the equivalent rustbelt within our hearts and our memories and our imaginations. Somewhere between nihilistic atheism on the one hand and a glib, chatty, easy-going religion on the other there is a different sort of thing, something deeper and darker that simultaneously refuses to despair even as it refuses cheap and shallow solutions. Again and again, in the communities where we live and in our personal lives, we are called to be Holy Saturday people, not because we've forgotten about Easter but because we don't yet know what form Easter is going to take in this particular moment of sorrow. --Tom Wright

a little ol' phone call

Just y'day someone told me that they got a phone call from someone they barely knew... the caller said, "Helen, I don't know if you are into this or not but for some reason i thought I should call and invite you to our Bible Study. Wanna come?"
Well "Helen" went and loves it and won't miss now.

who is in your sphere of influence that might need (maybe even want?) that little nudge to get them to Easter sunday?

Congregational Singing on Easter

we won't sing all the stanzas... but here they are for your meditation/enjoyment as you survey the wondrous cross today and tomorrow and prepare to celebrate sunday...

Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply, Alleluia!

Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Lo! the Sun’s eclipse is over, Alleluia!
Lo! He sets in blood no more, Alleluia!

Vain the stone, the watch, the seal, Alleluia!
Christ hath burst the gates of hell, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids His rise, Alleluia!
Christ hath opened paradise, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ hath led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Hail, the Lord of earth and Heaven, Alleluia!
Praise to Thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail, the resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

King of glory, Soul of bliss, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
Thee to know, Thy power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing and thus to love, Alleluia!

Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
Unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia!
Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
Sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia!

But the pains that He endured, Alleluia!
Our salvation have procured, Alleluia!
Now above the sky He’s King, Alleluia!
Where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!

Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!

Google map of Holy Week locations

Here on the ESV page

This great writing (and more glorious vision!) is because of EASTER

Aslan turned to them and said: "You do not yet look so happy as I mean you to be."

Lucy said, "We're so afraid of being sent away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often."

"No fear of that," said Aslan. "Have you not guessed?"

Their hearts leaped and a wild hope rose within them.

"There was a real railway accident," said Aslan softly. "Your father and mother and all of you are—as you used to call it in the Shadowlands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning."

And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before. (C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle, New York: Collier Books, pp. 183–84)

some gifts i've received... and how they help me as a disciple

Drawings from John Reid.... amazing how precious a child's efforts can be
(God give us grace to know that you delight in our stammering & not so glamorous gifts to you.)

Homemade chocolate chip cookies from Olivia... tons o choc.chips but dripping even more with love
(Giving up sweets for Lent must be temporarily and moderately interrupted when keeping the law destroys the spirit of what you are seeking to build in your heart.)

CD by The Arcade Fire from Andrew
&
Anne Lamott book from Kim
(How good it is to be known... to receive things you like that expose your freakyness. And God knows me best of all. How much more specific must his gifts be, even when they are hard.)

Rob & Sarah Hamersma

Hear it here.

(Isn't English a strangle language.... look at those 3 words.)

bonus for blog readers

obviously... those of you who check-in here regularly get some nuggets that hopefully help you experience Christ more fully during our worship services or simply help you feel more informed about life in CCC...
today you can read the letter that is going out USPS today to members & attenders explaining march 30 plans

Tonight..... He is betrayed...

In the horrors of his suffering Christ was sustained “by the joy that was set before him” (Hebrews 12:2). And that joy was the everlasting gladness of his redeemed people, satisfied in the presence of the risen king.

Therefore, let us see the greatest love in action during these next 24 hours. “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). And let us be so moved by this love that it becomes our own. “He laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” This is the commandment. This is the Thursday. --John Piper

Easter quotes

WE currently suffer physical limi-tations, we get weary in our work, and we groan in our illnesses. We do so knowing that the full redemption of our bodies is promised. Our hope is to have glorified bodies like that of our risen Lord! This is in marked contrast to Greek philosophy of immortality of the soul or the rational aspect of the self in a future escape from the body. … [We] believe in resurrection and in a transformed body. We will have our identity in all eternity.
Myron S. Augsburger, Soli Deo Gloria

THOSE first-century Jews who expected the Resurrection saw it as a single event, the raising to new bodily life of all at the very end. But it is central to Paul and, after him, to all other early Christian writers that the Resurrection is now a two-stage event—or better, a single event taking place in two moments, as Paul puts it: Christ the first fruits, and then at his coming, those who belong to him.
N. T. Wright, in The Resurrection of Jesus

[T]here really is no story about the Resurrection in the New Testament. Except in the most fragmentary way, it is not described at all. There is no poetry about it. Instead, it is simply proclaimed as a fact. Christ is risen! In fact, the very existence of the New Testament itself proclaims it. Unless something very real indeed took place on that strange, confused morning, there would be no New Testament, no Church, no Christianity.

FREDERICK BUECHNER, The Magnificent Defeat

Do the Opposite

As we look forward to a big weekend at Easter, I want to encourage all Christ Community folks to do the opposite of what many church folks do…

After all, as a Christian, you serve Jesus and live in an upside-down Kingdom where last is first. And servant is greatest of all.

Instead of parking up close and sitting far away, do the opposite.

Park far away and sit up close… (HT: Eric Geiger)

haiti audio

Haiti Audio from Sunday is up

A Prayer that May Give Words to Your Heart Cry

Our great God and Heavenly Father,

Forgive me, because my prayers are too often only selfish attempts to get what I want from you. I come, list in hand and little else. I justify this kind of prayer because you tell us in your word to ask, seek and knock.

My misconception of your true character robs you of your Sovereign Majesty and glory, an idolatry that is most evident in the way I pray. How dare I treat you, the Lord of the Universe, as if you were my delivery-boy: unconscious of you most of the time, summoning you when I need something, and dispatching you without so much as a “thank you.” Forgive me, Jesus, for treating you with less respect than the guards who mocked you, struck you, spit in your face, and then crucified you.

Forgive me for not praying in faith but rather out of a heart that is filled with superstition. For in truth, I believe prayer’s power lies in me or in another or even in prayer itself. --read the rest here

Pray

I am asking you to pray for wisdom for the building committee (Kevin Phegley-chairman, Sharon Stankunas, John Gallagher, Brian Schackow, and Brad Patterson. Frank Matthews is the pastoral member of the team.)

as well as praying for the elders...

many decisions need to be made in the coming weeks and our faithful God has promised wisdom to all who ask.

We are working hard towards a congregational meeting in late April or early May for the purpose of voting on a proposed loan to help begin construction. Please pray for all of this.

These are truly great times for Christ Community as we stand at a key place as we seek to move this mission forward. We should expect opposition from our Enemy. Alas, how great is our God! To Him we pray.

Suffering of Christ

“Christianity alone among the world religions claims that God became uniquely and fully human in Jesus Christ and therefore knows firsthand despair, rejection, loneliness, poverty, bereavement, torture, and imprisonment. On the cross he went beyond even the worst human suffering and experienced cosmic rejection and pain that exceeds ours as infinitely as his knowledge and power exceeds ours. In his death, God suffers in love, identifying with the abandoned and godforsaken. Why did he do it? The Bible says that Jesus came on a rescue mission for creation. He had to pay for our sins so that someday he can end evil and suffering without ending us.”

- Timothy Keller, The Reason for God (New York, NY: Dutton, 2008), 30

Across the Pond

From time to time I check in on some like-minded chaps in England. What caught my eye today was this:

The best article I’ve seen yet on the whole Dawkins/Hitchens “we hate religion” spiel was published in The Guardian on the weekend. It’s written by a secular writer who is no real friend of Christianity, and it makes for a riveting read. It’s an incisive critique of the claims made by the anti-theist crew and displays the huge holes in their arguments. Check it out here.

The Paradox of the Cross

“Hence the Cross, conceived as the expiatory penal sacrifice of the Son of God, is the fulfillment of the scriptural revelation of God, in its most paradoxical incomprehensible guise. It is precisely in His revelation that the God of the Bible is incomprehensible, because in His nearness He reveals His distance, in His mercy His holiness, in His grace His judgement, in His personality His abosluteness; because in His revelation His glory and the salvation of man, His own will and His love for men, His majesty and His “homeliness” cannot be separated from on another.”

- David Wells quoting Emil Brunner in Above All Earthly Pow’rs (Grand Rapids, MI.: Eerdman’s Publishing, 2005), 225.

Easter Lunch Opportunity

The Stankunas family is hosting lunch, with main dish provided at their home. Please bring side dishes, desserts, drinks. Also, egg hunt afterwards for the children. RSVP to Sharon (332.9258) if you know you'd like to come ... all are invited!

Holy Week

It was 22 years ago this week that God gave me an experience with Himself through His scriptures like never before. I don't know exactly why... but I found myself reading the gospels through and through and it was as if Jesus had been killed and raised the week before and I'd never heard of it. At the Maundy Thursday service I grabbed the minister and said, "What is going on with me? I can't get this off my mind?" Later I learned that what was happening was nothing other than the new birth. God was calling me to Himself by the power of His Holy Spirit.

Perhaps that is why I'm always pushing folk to read the gospels during Holy Week.

If you want to go through Mark, here's a plan
Monday Mark 14:53-65
Tuesday Mark 14:66-72
Wednesday Mark 15:1-20
Thursday Mark 15:21-32
Friday Mark 15:33-42

Haiti Team

What a great report we got from the Haiti team! There is more to come. If you missed the report yesterday... the audio will be posted tomorrow. Check back.

Specific Prayer Requests for Children in Haiti

A couple of patients we've seen need prayer.

1. A 4 month old is malnourished and the mother cannot provide breast
milk. We provided one container of formula, but the family has no
money to provide for herself and the baby. She is a single mother
with a couple of other kids. We plan to take a collection up for her
this week, which will provide a short term solution, but don't know what will happen after that.

2. A young boy came to the clinic with both acute malaria and type 1 diabetes. Charles drove the family with one of our doctors to the hospital in Port au Prince to treat the malaria. But there is no way this child will get the regular insulin shots in Messailler he needs to live.

Latest from Haiti

Mo Omli sends this report after speaking with husband Steve.........The team is doing well and accomplishing a lot.

They are based in Messailler (of course) but spent the today in nearby town called Fouvou where Pastor Charles also has a church. For the next two days they will travel about 1.5 hours away (each direction) to St. Marc where Charles also has a church.

The team “dorms” are very crowded with all of the NC/FL folks plus a Canadian team that arrived this weekend. Everyone is getting along well and finding their niche among the many tasks and ways to serve.

Specific prayer requests are (1) for Lia, one of the pediatricians, who became ill with a stomach virus last night. By mid day Wednesday, she was able to begin seeing patients again. Pray for the health of the team!!! (2) Also pray for safety on the roads traveling town-to-town. There are no “traffic laws” to speak of and roads are full of pot-holes, so safety is very important. (3) Pray for continued unity and cooperation among all team members serving this week. (4) The local Haitians lack rain and the town water is low (not an issue for the team)…so on the one hand there is a need for rain, but the lack of humidity is helping control the mosquitoes. It’s odd because there are often flooding issues in Haiti. (Pick your blessing on that one!)

Pastor Charles is specifically thrilled that the school children sponsorship project is being addressed. He almost can’t believe this answer to prayer. Apparently, he is 4 months behind in paying teachers due to the lack of money coming in from child sponsorship. Hopefully the work being done this week to organize and update that program will go a long way to remedy the inconsistencies and lack of information in this area.

Hait

The rest of the team arrived Sunday morning, in time for the worship service! Everyone is fine and healthy, and getting along very well... though it can be challenging to keep a group this size organized.

PRAISE for how well the "Child Sponsorship" Project is going (our team is gathering information on the school children so that each one can--hopefully--be sponsored by folk here in the US.

PRAY for the health of the team's pediatrician... Leah... who is ill.

Haiti Team DOing Great

We have heard by email and phone that the Team is getting much work done and enjoying the Haitian people. More to come. Keep praying for their joy & fruitfulness there.

Pray for the Haiti Team (PFHT)

Our most recent word from Haiti was yesterday (monday march 10) afternoon at 4:30.

They had a great first day of working on the construction team, although the 90 degree heat took some adjusting! The medical team had nonstop lines of people at the clinic, including the dentist.

Same guy who wrote "sinners in hands of angry God"

“If Christ accepts you, you need not fear but that you will be safe, for he is a strong Lion for your defense. And if you come, you need not fear but that you shall be accepted; for he is like a Lamb to all that come to him, and receives then with infinite grace and tenderness.”

- Jonathan Edwards, “The Excellency of Christ”

Haiti Update... yet not TOO up-to-date

Our most recent word from the Haiti trip is that the North Carolina members of the team (that were unable to fly out of miami on saturday with our Gainesville folks) boarded the plane--as hoped--on Sunday morning.

We will get you up-to-date stuff as soon as we have it.

reading through mark

if you are interested in reading through Mark in a way that takes you towards Easter... follow this:

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Mark 13:32-37

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Mark 14:1-11

Thursday, March 13, 2008 Mark 14:12-26

Friday, March 14, 2008 Mark 14:27-42

the rest of the plan is here

PRAY FOR HAITI team

No word from Haiti team since they arrived Saturday night.

Keep praying for them and we should hear something today.

Oh by the way, how did your "kingdom-advance" mission go this week? (follow-up from sunday sermon)

Joy Like Swords

Perhaps the best paragraph in the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy is when Frodo is honored with a song to celebrate his success in destroying the Ring of Doom.

And all the host laughed and wept, and in the midst of their merriment and tears the clear voice of the minstrel rose like silver and gold, and all men were hushed. And he sang to them…until their hearts, wounded with sweet words, overflowed, and their joy was like swords, and they passed in thought out to regions where pain and delight flow together and tears are the very wine of blessedness. (The Return of the King, 933)

Like those who listened to the minstrel's song, we who see our Savior in the last day will also be made merry with the story of his victory. And we too will be hushed by and wounded with the sweet words that are sung of his self-sacrifice on our behalf.

We will have joy like swords—bright and piercing—and all of the pain and loss of Christ's death (and our daily dying with him) will only mix with and enhance our bliss. --Tyler Kenney

His Forever
Jesus, friend of sinners
Loved me ’ere I knew Him
Drew me with His cords of love
Tightly bound me to Him
’Round my heart still closely twined
The ties that none can sever
For I am His and He is mine
Forever and forever

Jesus, friend of sinners
A crown of thorns You wore for me
Bruised for my transgressions
Pierced for my iniquities
The wrath of God that I deserved
Was poured out on the Innocent
He took my place, my soul to save
Now I am His forever

Jesus, friend of sinners
I love to tell the story
Redeeming love has been my theme
And will be when in glory
Not death nor life nor anything
Can ever separate me
O love that will not let me go
Yes, I am His forever

--From Worship God Live. Words and Music by Pat Sczebel, © Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP)

Heaven is not our home...

I haven't watched this yet... but I would bet it is good...
Tom Wright has written a book about the new heavens & new earth and he was on ABC Nightline discussing the future...

got 7 minutes?

Matthew Miller has put together a terrific compilation of movie scenes from many epic movies, including Gladiator, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, The Shawshank Redemption, and Braveheart, showing how the theme of death and resurrection inherent in each film points to the greatest Story ever told. Watch it here.

Bearing shame and scoffing rude
In my place condemned he stood,
Sealed my pardon with his blood
Hallelujah! What a Saviour!
-P.Bliss

Gentrification

article in our denominational magazine... Gentrification with Justice

move clocks move clocks

this is when you 9am worshippers earn your money....
Sunday your body will be telling you it is 8am.... it isn't!

Friendship with God

Mutual communion is the soul of all true friendship; and a familiar converse with a friend hath the greatest sweetness in it.... [so] besides the common tribute of daily worship you own to [God], take occasion to come into His presence on purpose to have communion with Him. This is truly friendly, for friendship is most maintained and kept up by visits; and these, the more free and less occasioned by urgent business... they are, the more friendly they are... We use to check our friends with this upbraiding. You still always come when you have some business, but when will you come to see me?... when thou comest into his presence, be telling him still how well thou lovest him; labour to abound in expressions of that kind, than which... there is nothing more taking with the heart of any friend...

John Owen

Easter Prep Resources...

several of you have asked about resources to help you meditate on Christ's death...

here are a few:
Nothing But the Blood, an article by Mark Dever is quickly becoming a classic.

these sermons:

‘Christ and Him Crucified’ by C. J. Mahaney

A series of three inspiring talks, originally given at Sovereign Grace conferences in the US, available exclusively free here by kind permission of Sovereign Grace Ministries. CHRIST OUR MEDIATOR MP3 (13.6 MB) THE CUP MP3 (11.9 MB) THE CRY FROM THE CROSS MP3 (12.0 MB)

and i'll be humbly adding my own easter prep for you by preaching this sunday on Mark 15 which contains Jesus' trial & crucifixion....

Outside of Christ we are slaves, the best of us are all slaves. In Christ, the lowest of all is a free man and a king.”

- Richard Sibbes,

John Owen on Humility

'the man that understands the evil of his own heart, how vile it is, is the only useful, fruitful and solidly believing and obedient person...'

Lent & Fasting

.... the church has always used God's gift of fasting to help on the journey...
here's one reason why we do it and why it can help build dependance upon Christ:

"Fasting is perculiarly suited to glorify God. It is fundamentally an offering of emptiness to God in hope. It is a sacrifice of need and hunger. It says by it's very nature, "Father I am empty but you are full. I am hungry but You are the Bread of Heaven. I am thirsty but You are the Fountain of Life. I am weak but You are strong. I am poor but You are rich. I am foolish but You are wise. I am broken but You are whole. I am dying but Your steadfast love is better than life".

When God sees this confession of need and this expression of trust, He acts because the glory of His all-sufficient grace is at stake. The final answer is that God rewards fasting because fasting expresses the cry of the heart that nothing on the earth can satisfy our souls beside God. God must reward this cry because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him". --Jn Piper

When you hear "rewards from God"... don't think anything easy or anything you've seen on TV... the reward is better! The reward is the presence of God and satisfaction with His beauty and wisdom.

Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.

“Being a Christian is a blend of doctrine, experience, and practice. Head, heart, and legs are all involved. Doctrine and experience without practice would turn me into a knowledgeable spiritual paralytic; experience and practice without doctrine would leave me a restless sleepwalker. If Christ is to be formed in me, doctrine, experience, and practice must all be there together.” JI Packer

Avoiding a sugared gospel

"Avoid a sugared gospel as you would shun sugar of lead. Seek the gospel which rips up and tears and cuts and wounds and hacks and even kills, for that is the gospel that makes alive again. And when you have found it, give good heed to it. Let it enter into your inmost being. As the rain soaks into the ground, so pray the Lord to let his gospel soak into your soul." CHSpurgeon

Perhaps I need to change too....

Challenged today by this fella's thoughts:

You see, many people, knowing that my Mom and my wife's Dad died, offered prayer and comfort and words of hope. Most often we heard, "they are in a better place." But as I listened I thought, "that is not the last word on this." Jesus did not die and rise again so when we die we go to a better place. He died and rose again so that death will be swallowed up, this mortal shall be clothed in immortality, and our parents (and all who fall asleep in Christ) will be re-embodied.

It is surprising how very little the New Testament talks about life after death -- and how much it talks about (to borrow a phrase) "life after life after death."

I have changed my words now -- when people ask me about Mom, I tell them that she has died and is waiting the resurrection of her body. I want to point to the real hope we have -- death swallowed up, being re-embodied and without sin, forever.

What would it say, when describing a Christian who has passed on... to say, "He died 10 years ago and is now waiting the resurrection of his body." Try it on.

great lyric as Easter approaches

the ramifications of the resurrection of Jesus are myriad... and Romans 8 describes our longing for the next world like this:
We, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Christ is risen! means that there is a PLACE where we shall live & reign forever... and in their song "Walk On", U2 helps me see what I'm doing:

You're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been
A place that has to be believed to be seen.

Gospel Freedom

“The gospel, applied to our hearts every day, frees us to be brutally honest with ourselves and with God. The assurance of His total forgiveness of our sins through the blood of Christ means we don’t have to play defensive games anymore. We don’t have to rationalize and excuse our sins. . . . We can call sin exactly what it is, regardless of how ugly and shameful it may be, because we know that Jesus bore that sin in His body on the cross. With the assurance of total forgiveness through Christ, we have no reason to hide from our sins anymore.”

- Jerry Bridges

was Jesus being neglectful of the needs of the poor in mark 14?

Jesus then makes it clear that his death is good
news central to the gospel which will be preached throughout the world. Sin is
the cause of poverty which is only a symptom evil in the world. Jesus knows
himself as the destruction of sin. Therefore the woman's anointing of Jesus
highlights the importance and centrality of his death. By allowing such lavish
treatment of himself in preparation for death, Jesus points to the true hope of the
poor. --jeff white

Oh God, please make me liberal!

this woman in Mark 14 (her name is Mary) demonstrates a passion & trustful treasuring of Jesus that i know you long for....

Not trusting in his goodness, we reckon that we had better withhold something of ourselves to make sure that we can take care of our own needs. It seems too risky to completely depend on Him. Perhaps we fail to fan into flame the embers of our love for God at the fire of the cross. If we spent more time reflecting on and immersing ourselves in the truth of God's love for us demonstrated in Jesus' passion then we would find ourselves giving our all to him with greater regularity. --jeff white