Play with your kids before you get cancer

When I was growing up we had a neigbor kid that lived a few houses down from us named, Chris. We never could remember his last name so we always called him, "Chris Down the Street."

Now as an adult with two kids of my own we have a neighbor two doors down named, Chris. He is the dad of two boys. My kids do not remember his last name and so we affectionately call him, "Chris Down the Street." It's amazing how life repeats itself. I have always admired our Chris Down the Street. During the 6+ years we have lived here there is not one moment I can recall seeing Chris outside without his kids. They are always playing hard with each other. This takes on many forms such as, racing bikes, repairing motors on dirt bikes, chasing each other, or preparing for a day at the lake on their boat. Chris is one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. They have always seemed to honor a commitment to church on Sundays but choose the 8 am service in order to have the rest of the day as a family.

Unfortunately, Chris was diagnosed several weeks ago with a form of liver and small intestine cancer that has a 50% chance of treatment. As always, Chris maintains a positive and hopeful outlook but was honest about his odds. I have learned so much about life from Chris just by observing his commitment to his family. You never know when your life may be cut short by cancer news. I hope I always play hard with my kids, not because of fear, but because they deserve a father who loves them enough to play hard with them every day.

Chris has another scan on June 30th which will determine his ultimate prognosis. Pray for Chris Down the Street.

Famine

Anyone hungry? Dr. Walter Kaiser may help us understand why from his book, Revive Us Again.

"Too often the Bible is little more than a book of epigrammatic sayings or a springboard that gives us a rallying point around which to base our editorials. But where did we get the audacious idea that God would bless our opinions or judgments? Who wants to hear another point of view as an excuse for a Bible study or a message from the Word of God? Who said God would bless our stories, our programs for the church, or our ramblings on the general area announced by the text? Surely this is a major reason why the famine of the Word continues in massive proportions in most places in North America. Surely this is why the hunger for the teaching and the proclamation of God’s Word continues to grow year after year. Men and women cannot live by ideas alone, no matter how eloquently they are stated or argued, but solely by a patient reading and explanation of all Scripture, line after line, paragraph after paragraph, chapter after chapter, and book after book. Where are such interpreters to be found, and where are their teachers? "

Six Steps...& I'm Still Alive

I was reminded again today how often I fail to praise God for the gift and mercy of life. Often times my thanksgiving is offered to Him as a result of a tedious task accomplished or a narrow miss of a side-swiping accident on I-65.

The children of Israel lived periods of their existence during the Old Testament completely separated from the presence of God. Most of the time this absence ensued as a result of rebellion. However, in the midst of hellish consequences (separation from God's presence), God's mercy and grace reached down and invaded their dark space. So grateful were the Israelites in 2 Samuel 6:13 they stopped every 6 paces and offered a worship sacrifice, thanking God they remained alive after carrying the Ark of God. They worshipped for two reasons:

1. God's mercy and grace alone allowed them to experience His presence again
2. Their earthly life was still in existence after 6 steps.

I do not slow down enough in life (even after 6,000 steps) to offer thanksgiving and praise to God for His breath in my lungs on a daily basis. What about you?

What is your goal in life?

"Devote yourself with all your mind, and all your heart, and all your strength to pursuing your joy in God. You should pursue the enlargement and the intensification and the deepening of your joy so hard, that that joy in Christ can be shaken by no pain, and can be competed with by no pleasure. That is your goal in life." - John Piper (Passion '05)

Live from Austin Music Hall

Where have I been? I just completed my purchase of Chris Tomlin's Live from Austin Music Hall album on iTunes. If you are a Tomlin fan (& even if you are not) this has some of my very favorite Tomlin/Passion tunes in an accoustic format. If I had to pick the best song on the album I would vote for "This is Our God" which includes a cameo from David Crowder. They sound great together. Happy listening!

Our rear guard...

If you're like me there are many things, if we let them, that would keep us from moving forward in life. Yes, its the dreaded phrase, "our past." I have often found myself identifying with the children of Israel. While many find commonalities between the disciples and themselves I find my commonality somewhere in the million plus parade line of Israel, specifically as they crossed the Red Sea and the Jordan. Both times they feared their past oppressors as they looked over their shoulder.

Twice in Isaiah God promises to go before them into their future and will protect them from their past as He will be their rear guard. Many of us, myself included, live for the future trying to forget our past while failing to embrace the promised protection that comes on our behalf.

Let's live life forward while recognizing the Safety we have on our back side.

This may well be my new favorite Christmas song. It was originally written by Charles Wesley around 1745. It has been redone by Kingsway Music and made available on the album Love Divine

Here are the words. I hope you enjoy it.

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Rejoice Rejoice Emmanuel
Rejoice Rejoice
Glory be to God
Glory be to God in the Highest

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

I love this anonymous quote referring to the sovereignty of God over the trials in our life. He will always give to us what we need in every circumstance. His grace is sufficient.


"He who shapes the burden for the back, shapes the back for the burden."

The Spirit of God who HELPS our weakness (Romans 8:26)

In the midst of our painful circumstances of life it is nearly impossible to put into words cohesive prayers. I am blown away by the fact that God helps us by His Spirit as He intercedes for us. How does He help?

“In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;” (Romans 8:26)

The word “helps” in the Greek comes from one long word. That word is “sunantilambano.” This is absolutely amazing!

sun – never leaves me
anti – facing me
lambano – pick up something I cannot on my own

In the midst of impossible, painful, life-shattering circumstances God’s promise to us is that His Spirit will never leave us (we will never be alone), He will face us intimately (His face will shine upon us), and He will pick up the burden we cannot carry on our own. It does not say He will help us pick it up. It says He will pick it up and that is why I Peter 5:7 tells us to cast (roll the burden off of our back and onto Him) all of our anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.

My friend, know today that He HELPS you, not in sharing the load but carrying the entire load.

Is there purpose in the painful circumstances of life?

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." - C.S. Lewis

His rescue...

When we were sinking down, sinking down
You laid aside Your crown and became our substitute
You died the death we could not die
And lived the life we could not live
And credited to us the blessings of both by Your gift of faith

One of my all time favorite quotes regarding scripture's importance.

"Those things which have been delivered to us by God in the Sacred Scriptures must be sharply distinguished from those that have been invented by men in the Church, it matters not how eminent they be for saintliness and scholarship." - Martin Luther

- The Babylon Captivity Of The Church
http://www.ctsfw.edu/etext/luther/babylonian/babylonian.htm

FOR FREEDOM CHRIST HAS SET US FREE.

This "freedom" is established in heaven's charter-the Bible. Here is a choice passage, believer: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you."1 Here is another: "The mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you."2 These Scriptures set you free in believing. You are a welcome guest at this table of promises.

Scripture is a never-failing treasury filled with boundless stores of grace. It is the bank of heaven; you may draw from it as much as you wish, without any hindrance. Come in faith; you are welcome to all the covenant blessings. There is not a promise in the Word that will be withheld. In the deepest tribulations let this freedom comfort you; overwhelmed by waves of distress let it cheer you; when sorrows surround you let it be your solace. This is your Father's love-token; you are free in it at all times.

You are also given free access to the throne of grace. It is the believer's privilege to have access at all times to his heavenly Father. Whatever our desires, our difficulties, our wants, we are at liberty to spread them all before Him. It does not matter how much we may have sinned, we can ask and expect pardon. No matter how poor we are, we may plead His promise that He will provide everything we need. We have permission to approach His throne at all times-in midnight's darkest hour or in noontide's most burning heat. Exercise your right, believer, and enjoy this privilege.

You are set free to all that is treasured up in Christ-wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. It does not matter what your need is, for there is abundant supply in Christ, and it is there for you. What a "freedom" is yours! Freedom from condemnation, freedom to the promises, freedom to the throne of grace, and at last freedom to enter heaven!

1)Isaiah 43:2 2)Isaiah 54:10
Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon

This is what we find in Scripture. Do we treasure it the way we should?

[FROM THE FIRST BIBLE PRINTED IN EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND; 1576.]

HERE IS THE SPRING WHERE WATERS FLOW
TO QUENCH OUR HEAT OF SIN
HERE IS THE TREE WHERE TRUTH DOTH GROW
TO LEAD OUR LIVES THEREIN

HERE IS THE JUDGE THAT HALTS THE STRIFE
WHEN MEN'S DEVICES FAIL
HERE IS THE BREAD THAT FEEDS THE LIFE
THAT DEATH CANNOT ASSAIL

THE TIDINGS OF SALVATION DEAR
COMES TO OUR EARS FROM HENCE
THE FORTRESS OF OUR FAITH IS HERE
AND SHIELD OF OUR DEFENSE

THEN BE NOT LIKE THE SWINE THAT HATH
A PEARL OF HIS DESIRE
AND TAKES MORE PLEASURE FROM THE TROUGH
AND WALLOWING IN THE MIRE

PRAY STILL IN FAITH WITH THIS RESPECT
TO BE FRUITFUL WITHIN
THAT KNOWLEDGE MAY BRING THIS EFFECT
TO MORTIFY SIN

THEN HAPPY THOU IN ALL THY LIFE
WHAT SO TO THEE BEFALLS
YEA, DOUBLE HAPPY THOU SHALT BE
WHEN GOD BY DEATH THEE CALLS

Predestination or Free Will?

“I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew”

I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew
He moved my soul to seek Him, seeking me;
it was not I that found, O Savior true;
no, I was found of Thee.

Thou didst reach forth Thy hand and mine enfold;
I walked and sank not on the storm-vexed sea;
'twas not so much that I on Thee took hold,
as Thou, dear Lord, on me.

I find, I walk, I love, but oh, the whole
of love is but my answer, Lord, to Thee;
for Thou wert long beforehand with my soul,
always Thou lovedst me.

Words: Anonymous, ca. 1878

January 10, 2003 - written for the Long Hollow Youth

Jesus as our model for intimacy with the Father

Many of us equate quiet time with God as a systematic discipline that remains the same day after day (see Matthew 6:5-7). While discipline and consistency is important in spending time with God, Jesus gives us His earthly life to model our time with the Father. Intimacy with God cannot be a program that is ritualistic. It must be an earnest desire to meet and experience our Maker. Jesus gives us in His Word practical truths about spending time with Him.

The Bible’s Perspective

Location has always been a challenge for many Christians. Even in some denominations they believe that where you meet God must be within the walls of the church. Jesus was notorious for turning traditions upside down and revealing that intimacy is not a programmed activity.

The following verses teach us about where Jesus spent time with the Heavenly Father.

I. Location, Location, Location! (Wherever)

Matthew 14:13 Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.

Mark 6:46 After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.

Luke 5:16 But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

We see in the verses above that there are at least three locations where Jesus spent time with the Father.

1.) A Secluded Place – this could be anywhere
2.) The Mountain
3.) The Wilderness

In all three places we see seclusion (aloneness) as the key. Notice that this time was not in a church setting.

II. Time, Time, Time! (Whenever)

Next we see the times in which Jesus spent time with God.

Mark 1:35 In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.

What the Psalmist says:

Psalm 5:3In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.
Psalm 88:13But I, O LORD, have cried out to You for help, And in the morning my prayer comes before You.
Psalm 90:14O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.


Matthew 14:23 After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.

Luke 5:16 But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

We see in these verses the times in which Jesus meditated and experienced intimacy with the Father.

1.) Morning
2.) Evening
3.) Often – Anytime

Again, the Psalmist says:

Psalm 55:16-18
As for me, I shall call upon God, And the LORD will save me. 17 Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur, And He will hear my voice. 18He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle which is against me, For they are many who strive with me.

Psalm 92:1-3
It is good to give thanks to the LORD And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; 2 To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning And Your faithfulness by night, 3 With the ten-stringed lute and with the harp, With resounding music upon the lyre.


Spending time with God must take place often in order to experience intimacy with Him.

III. Steps to Intimacy

The last thing we see modeled by Jesus are the actions he took during His time with the Father.

Matthew 14:23 After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.

Mark 1:35 In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.

Mark 6:30-31 30 The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. 31 And He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while." (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.)

Mark 6:46 After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.

Luke 5:16 But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

Jesus modeled these two actions for intimacy with God:
1.) Pray
2.) Rest

- Quiet times with God include periods of resting
- Being “busy” for God can exclude time to rest and pray


Application

We see by Jesus’ own example that He intentionally secluded Himself from other people and activities to spend time with His Father. In the same way, our time with God must be intentional and done often. Otherwise we will miss the intimacy that God intends for us to have with Him.

Pray about new times and locations in which you can spend time with God this week. Remember, He anxiously awaits your fellowship “wherever & whenever.”

Notes from Connect Group
07/22/07

“The Cross”

See “50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die” by John Piper

His Plan

- Jesus was delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23)
- We were strangers to the covenants of promise (Ephesians 2:11-16)
- We had a certificate of debt consisting of hostile decrees against us (Colossians 2:13-14)

Our Response

- Casual Spectator – Simon of Cyrene “a passer-by” (Mark 15:21)
- Cynical Spectator – those casting lots for Jesus’ tunic (John 19:25)
- Crumbling Worshiper – a worshiping participator (Galatians 6:14)

history of the altar call...

"The Anxious Bench - Charles Finney"

What we have today is a form of evangelism that was really stylized and popularized by Charles G. Finney who developed the invitational system as we know it today, right about the same time that Eliott was writing Just as I am, the mid 1830's.

Charles G. Finney was an Upstate New York lawyer with no formal theological training of any kind. He had a skilled logical mind. He was converted in 1821. He became a popular evangelist and revivalist. He believed completely that salvation was a result of a human choice. He believed that man could make that human choice because he was not by nature depraved. He had a certain bent toward sin, but it was not his constitution and so he had the ability within him to choose what is right. And so Finney determined that since man could do what is right, since he was not innately depraved, that what you had to do was work on the will of man. And if you could activate the will of man, or motivate the will of man, he would make the right choice. And you could use almost any legitimate or even illegitimate means, including manipulation and emotion. He developed what came to be known as the "anxious bench" and began to call people forward. This is brand new. In the time before that, in the years of the great awakening of George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards, no such thing was ever done. But Finney began to call people forward to what he called the "anxious bench." It later became known in Methodism as the "altar," and people then became the objective. And as the preacher came to the conclusion, he began to call people forward because people wanted to see something visible since the invisible work of regeneration could not be seen.

The response to his ministry and his persuasive and logical powers was great. People came to the anxious bench. He was outwardly successful in getting them there. In fact he was so successful that people were reluctant to say anything against him fearing they might be saying something against the Holy Spirit of God. But as you went behind the scenes to check into what was left after Finney did his work, his fellow workers couldn't help realize the small number of converts who ever remained faithful. In a letter to Finney dated December 25, 1834, James Boyle asked these questions:
"Let us look over the fields where you and others and myself have labored as revival ministers and what is now their moral state? What was their state within three months after we left them? I have visited and revisited many of these fields and groaned in spirit to see the sad frigid carnal contentious state into which the churches had fallen and fallen very soon after we first departed from among them."

In fact, many who evaluated the ministry of Finney were convinced that sinners emotionally but not spiritually awakened became hardened and skeptical. The sinner, for example, who made an objective commitment to Christ in some emotional experience but soon found out that contrary to the revivalists' or the evangelists` promise, nothing changed, his heart was the same. And the wave of emotional release that he experienced made no change. That discovery that didn't solve anything in his life made the sinner more hardened in his sin, more skeptical of the gospel, more skeptical of other people's Christian profession, believing that he who had been deceived was a member of a group of others who had been and were being likewise deceived.

I don't want to discount totally the ministry of Finney. I'm sure people were saved. But coming to the end of his life himself and looking back over, he said if he had to do it all over again, he never would have preached the doctrine of salvation without the doctrines of sanctification.

Worth dying for...

LUTHERSROSE WAS THE SYMBOL THAT REPRESENTED THE GREAT REFORMER’S BURDEN, PASSION, AND CONVICTIONS DURING THE REFORMATION.

THE BLACK CROSS – REPRESENTS THE UTTER SINFULNESS OF MAN AND THE GREAT SACRIFICE OF JESUS CHRIST FOR US ON THE CROSS FOR OUR INIQUITIES.

THE RED HEART – REPRESENTS THE GREAT LOVE OF GOD IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST POURED OUT FOR US FOR OUR SALVATION. THAT WE ARE SAVED IS ALL OF GRACE, ALL OF CHRIST, NOT OF OUR WORKS.

THE FIVE PEDALED WHITE ROSE – REPRESENTS THE PURITY OF OUR NEW LIFE IN HIM, THE SINLESSNESS OF CHRIST HIMSELF, AND THE FIVE GREAT TRUTHS OF OUR REDEMPTION, BY FAITH ALONE, THROUGH GRACE ALONE, BECAUSE OF CHRIST ALONE, ON THE WORD OF GOD ALONE, TO THE GLORY OF GOD ALONE.

THE DEEP ROYAL BLUE BACKGROUND – REPRESENTS THE GREAT LOVE OF GOD IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AS KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS – THAT HE IS THE ONE TRUE SOVEREIGN OF ALL.

THE GOLD RING AROUND THE EMBLEM – REPRESENTS THE ETERNAL LIFE THAT WE HAVE IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD, THE CROWN OF LIFE, THE CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, THE CROWN OF EXALTATION, THE CROWN OF GLORY, AND THE CROWN WHICH IS IMPERISHABLE.