Grace makes beauty out of ugly things

Lately I've been celebrating, with people ranging from my 10 yr old daughter to my brother-in-law to some CCC u2ers, the goodness of U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind. Today, the last song, Grace, struck me:

Grace makes beauty out of ugly things.

How amazing this reality is when you consider our sin and God's majestic & mysterious grace.

Whole song here

When by faith my Lord I see
Bleeding on a cross for me,
Quick my idols all depart,
Jesus gets and fills my heart. -- found in Matthew Smith song, None Among, not sure of original source

Congregational Meeting April 27

Tonight the session (the elders) of Christ Community voted to recommend to the congregation a loan for the construction of our facility. We'll vote on that April 27th at 12:15pm!

Much more to come... on the website tomorrow and in member's USPS mailboxes this Friday.

Tickets available Sunday

Matthew Smith concert is a week from today! You can pick up your $8 tickets when we gather Sunday. This will be something that any age will enjoy. It will also envision you on what it is like to be in what is called a "church facility". Our friends at Abundant Grace just moved in a few months ago and have been of invaluable help to us in our building process.

A Prayer Before Sleep

Calm me, O Lord, as You stilled the storm.

Still me, O Lord, keep me from harm.
Let all the tumult within me cease.
Enfold me, Lord, in Your peace.

* Father, bless the work that is done,
and the work that is to be.

* Father, bless the servant that I am,
and the servant that I will be.

Thou Lord and God of power,
shield and sustain me this night.

I will lie down this night with God,
and God will lie down with me;
I will lie down this night with Christ,
and Christ will lie down with me;
I will lie down this night with the Spirit,
and the Spirit will lie down with me;
God and Christ and the Spirit,
be lying down with me.

* The peace of God
be over me to shelter me,

* under me to uphold me,

* about me to protect me,

* behind me to direct me,

* ever with me to save me.

The peace of all peace be mine this night in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Sleeping well may also be part of Christian discipleship, at least in our time and place. For not only might a counter-cultural embrace of sleep witness to values higher than ‘the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things.’ A night of good sleep—a week, or month, or year of good sleep—also testifies to the basic Christian story of Creation. We are creatures, and we are creatures with bodies that are finite and contingent. The unarguable demands that our bodies make for sleep are a good reminder that we are mere creatures, not the Creator” --Lauren Winner

Sermon and Sleep

These two words are just loaded with jokes... aren't they?

Well, I'm thrilled about the opportunity and the responsibility of helping us think biblically about 1/4 of our lives!!!

The amount of time we sleep is really amazing. Why did God make us this way? How can we experience Christ's grace while sleeping? Will we sleep when we inhabit the new creation? What does it say about me if i have trouble sleeping? Is it possible to sleep sinfully? All these and more, on the blog this week and from the pulpit on Sunday, if you're awake!

Christ has done great things for his people

“That Christian who has free grace, who has free justification, who has the mediatorial righteousness of Christ, who has the satisfaction of Christ, who has the covenant of grace most constantly in his sight, and most frequently warm upon his heart—that Christian, of all Christians in the world, is most free from a world of fears, and doubts, and scruples which do sadden, sink, perplex, and press down a world of other Christians, who daily eye more what Christ is a-doing in them, and what they are a-doing for Christ, than they do eye either his active or passive obedience.

Christ has done great things for his people, and he has suffered great things for his people, and he has purchased great things for his people, and he has prepared great things for his people; yet many of his own dear people are so taken up with their own hearts, and with their own duties and graces, that Christ is little eyed by them or minded by them!

This is the great reason why so many Christians, who will certainly go to heaven—do walk in darkness, and lie down in sorrow.”

- Thomas Brooks, A Cabinet of Choice Jewels

The Limits of Our Love & The Effects of Christ's Love

“A man may love another as his own soul, yet perhaps that love of his cannot help him. He may thereby pity him in prison, but not relieve him; bemoan him in misery, but not help him; suffer with him in trouble, but not ease him. We cannot love grace into a child, nor mercy into a friend; we cannot love them into heaven, though it may be the great desire of our soul. It was love that made Abraham cry, ‘O that Ishmael might live before thee!’ but it might not be. But now the love of Christ, being the love of God, is effectual and fruitful in producing all the good things which he willeth unto his beloved. He loves life, grace, and holiness into us; he loves us also into covenant, loves us into heaven. Love in him is properly to will good to any one: whatever good Christ by his love wills to any, that willing is operative of that good” --John Owen

A Sermon About Food?

AT first hearing it seems weird. You almost wonder... how will I come up with much to say. Then you start thinking about it... and thumbing through your bible... and you are at the other end of the spectrum saying, "a sermon about food??" ... shouldn't it be a sermon SERIES on food.

One day it may be, or at least a break-out class or seminar. Close parenthesis.

What about all the things that I simply CANNOT address in one brief sermon? As I've had discussions with people about food it seems that certain issues and ideas emerge. Each of them is, at least for some of us, loaded with emotion and questions. Read the entire post here

Oh by the way....

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the killing of MLK jr.



Here is link to U2 site where i first saw it....
Musically... John Legend's stripped-down, piano-based cover of Pride (In The Name of Love) is beautiful in its simplicity.

Enjoying God in The Ordinary....

Tomorrow we discuss "God and Our Eating"

Jonathan Edwards, Food, and Happiness

Jonathan Edwards viewed ... ( everything ) ... as the divinely appointed means of experiencing
the holy God he found so addictive to his soul.

of every possible way, in the words of his sermon on Song of Solomon
5:1, to lay his soul “in the way of allurement.”

Listen to these words of Edwards from his sermon “The Christian
Pilgrim” about the allurement he found in God:
The enjoyment of him is our highest happiness, and is the only happiness
with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to
enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations
here: better than fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or
the company of any or all earthly friends. These are but shadows; but
God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the
sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but
drops; but God is the ocean.

This Sunday I plan to make the point that our enjoyment of food is to point us to the same joy.

Communing With God

John Owen also dismisses the all-too contemporary idea that Jesus is the loving member of the Trinity who saves us from the Father, the angry and stern member of the Trinity:

Christians walk oftentimes with exceedingly troubled hearts, concerning the thoughts of the Father toward them. They are well persuaded of the Lord Christ and his goodwill; the difficulty lies in what is their acceptance with the Father-what is his heart toward them? “Show us the Father, and it suffices us” (John 14:8). Now, this ought to be so far away, that his love (Our Father's love!!) ought to be looked on as the fountain from whence all other sweetnesses flow.

God Communicates His Glory Through All Creation

Edwards is helping me think about the gospel and our eating.

Next time you enjoy food.... remember:

God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced
in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they
only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the
understanding and by the heart. God made the world that He might
communicate, and the creature receive, His glory; and that it might [be]
received both by the mind and heart. He that testifies his idea of God’s
glory [doesn’t] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation
of it and his delight in it. -- Jonathon Edwards

Communion

This Sunday we will commune with each other and Christ. A word or two about communion. First, please note that this Sunday we will be passing the communion elements (bread and cup) down the aisles during our worship service. The elders recently decided that wisdom seemed to alternate monthly between passing down the aisles and "coming down front". This result, hopefully, is one that will lead to more people more often being able to experience the presence of the Risen Christ in our midst. I will try to add to this post over the next couple of days, but for now... here are a couple of positives for each method of distribution of communion.
Passing down the rows: allows reflective meditation; accommodates those that may struggle to bring themselves forward (for physical or other reasons); etc.
Coming down front: requires action/volition; more personal connection between elders and people... as people may hear their names spoken or receive prayer or an encouraging hug; etc.

The opportunity to partake together of the broken body and poured out blood of our Savior is indeed a gift from heaven. Please prayerfully prepare your heart. How? Simply, dwell on your sin and dwell MORE on your Savior. Believe the gospel of grace enough to say to God:
Show me my sin.
Where am I resisting you?
What part of your good creation have a made into an idol... and regularly "go there" for a feeling of being alive, being loved, having meaning, etc? Kill that idolatry, Jesus. Root it out by the power of your love and grace.

Show me Yourself. Your grace and glory. Free my heart to follow you in joyful surrender.

More to come...

The Dance of God

“If the beauty of what Jesus did moves you, that is the first step toward getting out of your own self-centeredness and fear into a trust relationship with him. When Jesus died for you he was, as it were, inviting you into the dance. He invites you to begin centering everything in your life on him, even as he has given himself for you.”

- Timothy Keller, The Reason for God (New York, NY: Dutton, 2008), 221.

Sermon Series... The Gospel and The Stuff of Life

Sunday we begin 3 weeks looking at how we spend many of our days.... eating, working, sleeping. In doing some prep work I had some folks tell me they'd never heard eating or sleeping preached on... and i was asked how i decided to do this... i'll write more later... but this quote helped me get there

“Being "Reformed" is a style of life that gives prominence to the conviction that God is creator; hence it is that we give thanks to God for the goodness that surrounds us. Secondly, it incorporates a deep and powerful sense of the fallenness of all things, understood in such a way that there is a strong impulse to resist all attempts to draw lines in the sand, with the explanation that human fallenness occurs on this side of the line and not on that side of the line. Fallenness runs throughout our entire existence—indeed, through the cosmos.
Corresponding to this comprehensive view of sin is then an equally comprehensive view of faith and salvation... In short, I think that at the heart of the Reformed tradition is a passion for totality, for wholeness, for integrity, for not allowing life to fall into bits and pieces but to constantly ask, ‘What does my faith—what does the gospel of Jesus Christ—have do with this and what does it have to do with that?’ And then never being content with the answer, ‘Nothing!’”

--Nick Wolterstorff

You Are Invited.... by Christ....

When I hear His tender invitation and see His wondrous grace,
I cannot hesitate, but must come to Thee in love.

In the supper I remember His eternal love, boundless grace,
infinite compassion, agony, cross, redemption,
and receive assurance of pardon, adoption, life, glory.
As the outward elements nourish my body,
so may Thy indwelling Spirit invigorate my soul,
until that day when I hunger and thirst no more,
and sit with Jesus at His heavenly feet. Amen.

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

Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.
Martin Luther

My friend & mentor recently preached a sermon with a great title...

Thou Shalt Have Great Sex

Proverbs 5:15-23

February 17, 2008

Rev. Ray Cortese

Download:

Sermon Notes

Order of Worship

Download Audio

I don't think our friends know this....

I'm serious... In most of my conversation with people who are not Christians there is a lack of awareness of this core message that Christians love and (take for granted?). Stated well here:

A central message of the Bible is that we can only have a relationship with God by sheer grace. Our moral efforts are too feeble and falsely motivated to ever merit salvation. Jesus, through his death and resurrection, has provided salvation for us, which we receive as a gift. ... Growth in character and change in behavior occur in a gradual process after a person becomes a Christian. The mistaken belief that a person must ‘clean up’ his or her own life in order to merit God’s presence is not Christianity. This means, though, that the church will be filled with immature and broken people who still have a long way to go emotionally, morally, and spiritually. As the saying has it: ‘The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.’ --Tim Keller, A Reason for God

The offer of real joy is repeatedly extended from heaven; the creature repeatedly rejects it.

--Andrée Seu

Boundless Appetite

---thinking about the Lord's Supper we will celebrate Sunday...

Men cannot exceed in the degree of [spiritual] appetites. There is no such thing as any inordinateness in holy affections; there is no such thing as excess in longings after the discoveries of the beauty of Christ Jesus, or greater degrees of holiness, or the enjoyment of communion with God…. Persons may to their utmost indulge their hungerings after righteousness, and after the Word of God, and after all spiritual pleasures. They may indulge those appetites as much as they will in their thoughts and in their meditations and in their practice. They may drink, yea, swim in the rivers of spiritual pleasure…. We ought to take all opportunities to lay ourselves in the way of enticement with respect to our gracious inclinations. Thus you should be often with God in prayer, and then you will be in the way of having your heart drawn forth to him. We ought to be frequent in reading and constant in hearing the Word. And particularly to this end, we ought carefully and with the utmost seriousness and consideration attend the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper; this was appointed for this end, to draw forth the longings of our souls towards Jesus Christ.

—Jonathan Edwards, from a sermon, “Spiritual Appetites Need No Bounds”

For Pastors! and parents, and comm group leaders, and people with friends.. and...

These words were--i think--originally written to pastors as a way of "coaching them up" on how to help their people fight sin and pursue the life that is life indeed... a kind of primer on how to envision & equip their people (and themselves! who needs grace more than a preacher?) in the art of saying NO to drinking from broken/rusty water fountains that send out brown gunk and saying YES to the clean spring water of Christ (that's my translation of jeremiah 2)
Anyway

Let us not cease then to ply the only instrument of powerful and positive operation, to do away from you the love of the world. Let us try every legitimate method of finding access to your hearts for the love of Him who is greater than the world. For this purpose, let us, if possible, clear away that shroud of unbelief which so hides and darkens the face of the Deity. Let us insist on His claims to your affection - and whether in the shape of gratitude, or in the shape of esteem, let us never cease to affirm, that in the whole of that wondrous economy, the purpose of which is to reclaim a sinful world unto Himself - he, the God of love, so sets Himself forth in characters of endearment, that nought but faith, and nought but understanding, are wanting, on your part, to call forth the love of your hearts back again.
---Thomas Chalmers, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection.... whole thing at
http://www.newble.co.uk/chalmers/comm9.html/

Preaching the Passion of Christ in March

... have just arrived at my preaching plan for the next few weeks

We will jump from Mark 6 (where we were last week, and where we'll return after Easter) to Mark 14 this Sunday. Here are the texts for the next several sermons:

March 2: Mark 14:1-9 Jesus is Anointed with perfume
March 9: Mark 15:1-32
March 16: Mark 15:33-47
March 23: Easter! Mark 16

“There is no more for him to do, but only to know and believe, that Jesus Christ hath done all for him…This, then, is perfect righteousness, only to know and believe, that Jesus Christ is now gone to the Father, and sitteth at his right hand, not as a Judge, but as made to you of God, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; wherefore, as Paul and Silas said to the jailor, so I say unto you, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” That is, be verily persuaded in your heart that Jesus Christ is yours, and that you shall have life and salvation by him; that whatsoever Christ did for the redemption of mankind, he did it for you.”

The Marrow of Modern Divinity, pp. 118, 119

Lent Day 20, Mark 8:14-26

Continuing with today's reading... Jesus and his disciples CONTINUE to interact about what happened when He fed the 5000...

By the way.... here are the readings for the week if you are seeking to read through the Gospel of Mark this Lenten season...

Tuesday, February 26, 2008 Mark 8:27-9:1
Wednesday, February 27, 2008 Mark 9:2-32
Thursday, February 28, 2008 Mark 9:33-50
Friday, February 29, 2008 Mark 10:1-16
Saturday, March 01, 2008 Day of reflection

“God’s grace is not easily reconciled to our math, but that does not diminish its beauty or scope. When we serve our Lord out of true and full thanksgiving for his defeat of the guilt and power of our sin, we are grateful not merely for his benevolently receiving our works but for his enabling of us to do what he will ultimately reward. This side of heaven, we will never logically resolve the tension between human responsibility and divine provision in sanctification. But as we learn to acknowledge that God must provide what we need to please him, the result will be our full dependence upon his grace. While our logic may not be satisfied in this dependence, it is the only place where the heart conscious of its humanity can find rest.” Bryan Chapell, Holiness by Grace

the keller book

Never before have I felt like I had a book that I could (and will!!) put in the hands of my non-Christian friends and walk away feeling like... "That author presents what I really believe. He respects the non-Christian and doesn't talk down to them. He expresses being a Christian in the true way we should, with extreme humility AND confidence." If you haven't laid hands on THE REASON FOR GOD, you really should.

A choice excerpt from Tim Keller’s new book (written primarily for skeptics) …

“The death of Jesus was qualitatively different from any other death. The physical pain was nothing compared to the spiritual experiences of cosmic abandonment. 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 excels 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. … If we again ask the question: ‘Why does God allow evil and suffering to continue?’ and we look at the cross of Jesus, we still do not know what the answer is. However, we know what the answer isn’t. It can’t be that he doesn’t love us. It can’t be that he is indifferent or detached from our condition. God takes our misery and suffering so seriously that he was willing to take it on himself. … So, if we embrace the Christian teaching that Jesus is God and that he went to the Cross, then we have deep consolation and strength to face the brutal realities of life on earth.”

-Timothy Keller, The Reason For God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (New York City: Dutton, 2008) p. 30.

Building Plans Approved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thanks for praying.... now it is on to securing a loan and plans for a groundbreaking celebration... this was a huge step towards building a place for God's glory....

Alachua County Meeting is 1:30pm

Correction... meeting time is 1:30 pm..... NOW!

Mark 6 Feeding 5000 .... God's glory doesn't LOOK like man's attempts at it

It is also not accidental that Mark places this event immediately after recounting Herod’s drunken birthday bash which led to the death of John the Baptist. Herod claims royalty but is really nothing but a pretender. Jesus, however, is Israel’s true king. Herod is surrounded by big-wigs, while Jesus is with those who are poor and needy. Herod’s birthday bash is a picture of luxury and excess, while Jesus provides the people with the mere necessities of life. Therefore, whole scene in the wilderness is designed to contrast God’s glory–which can only be seen through the eyes of faith–and the apparent glory of an earthly king such as Herod. --Kim Riddlebarger

John Owen

I'm being tutored--along with few other guys-- in the art of killing sin. Our most recent lesson was on not being fooled that sin has been killed just because we have gotten really upset about it... or really started to focus on it. (FYI, the sin can be anything... discontentment; coveting; demanding heaven NOW; fear of man, etc)

The whole man, spiritual and natural, being now awakened, sin shrinks in its head, appears not, but lies as dead before him: as when one that has drawn nigh to an army in the night, and has killed a principal person—instantly the guards awake, men are roused up, and strict inquiry is made after the enemy, who, in the meantime, until the noise and tumult be over, hides himself, or lies like one that is dead, yet with firm resolution to do the like mischief again upon the like opportunity. … So it is in a person when a breach has been made upon his conscience, quiet, perhaps credit, by his sinful desire, in some eruption of actual sin—carefulness, indignation, desire, fear, revenge, are all set on work about it and against it, and sinful desire is quiet for a season, being run down before them; but when the hurry is over and the inquest past, the thief appears again alive, and is as busy as ever at his work. --John Owen

got a minute?

History of Religion in 90 seconds... fascinating... can't help thinking of this "movie" while preparing my heart to sing Psalm 2 in the services sunday morning

Feeding the 5000 in context

serious props from RP to kim riddlebarger for this helpful overview of where we find ourselves as we come sunday to our King's feeding of the 5000

Who Is Jesus? King Herod wants to know, since
he’s heard about this miracle-worker exorcist preaching out in the hill country near Nazareth. Herod
has also heard the rumors that Jesus may be John the Baptist come back to life. This would explain
Jesus’ miraculous powers. The followers of John the Baptist think that Jesus is Elijah who must come
before the Day of the Lord. Many in Israel think that Jesus is one of Israel’s prophets who has returned
to call the nation to repentance. Members of the Sanhedrin–Israel’s ruling religious body in
Jerusalem–have accused Jesus of being demon possessed. The Pharisees think that Jesus is some sort of
magician/false teacher who refuses to acknowledge the distinction between clean and unclean. The
multitudes, who are seeking out Jesus, really don’t much care who Jesus is, they just want Jesus to heal
them or deliver them from demonic oppression. Meanwhile, slowly but surely, Jesus is lifting the veil as
to his true identity. His disciples have witnessed Jesus speak in parables, calm a storm, cast out a legion
of demons, and raise the dead. Now they will witness Jesus perform a miracle (feeding 5000) which ties him to many of the key events in Israel’s history. But in the end, everyone is asking the same question. Who is Jesus?
In Mark chapter 6, Mark describes a transitional phase in Jesus’ ministry. After beginning his messianic mission, Jesus had been primarily preaching in the area near Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. But the time had
come for Jesus to preach to new audiences. Jesus also needed to escape from the huge crowds which had
been following him every where he went–to the point of hindering his mission. Jesus’ first trip out the
area was to return to his hometown of Nazareth. As yet another poignant indicator that his entire life was
one of humiliation, Jesus was mocked by his former friends and neighbors in Nazareth as “the carpenter,
the son of Mary.” In fact, things in Nazareth were so bad that Mark recounts how Jesus himself marveled
at the people’s lack of faith.
During this same point in his ministry, Jesus gave a temporary commission to his disciples to go
throughout the villages in the hill country near Nazareth to preach the gospel of the kingdom. Going out
two by two, the disciples reported to Jesus that many people were healed and that demons fled when the
gospel was proclaimed. It was during this time that Herod Antipas got wind of Jesus’ expanding
ministry. Herod heard some of the rumors rapidly spreading throughout Israel that Jesus might be John
the Baptist come back to life. This would have been especially frightening to Herod because it was he
who had put John the Baptist to death at the behest of his wife Herodias. If Jesus were indeed John, he
might seek revenge upon Herod. Mark uses Herod’s fear of Jesus to recount to his readers the sad fate of
John the Baptist. The death of the Baptist meant that John (not Jesus) was the promised Elijah, and that
although John was the greatest of men under the Old Covenant, his death was yet another, albeit tragic,
sign that the New Covenant age had dawned in the person of Jesus. As the messianic forerunner, John’s
work was completed. John must decrease so that Jesus might increase. ---Kim Riddlebarger