I was rereading Blue Like Jazz earlier and it has been repeatedly slapping me
in the face with all the things I say and want to do and how they conflict
with who I am and where all the problems really are. As much as I feel
mentally I have always "known" what Don Miller is saying, I see over and over
again how I have acted on a radically different scale. If what I believe is
determined by how I act, I am a fundamentalist, legalistic, stuffy, pompous,
religious "Christian". It makes me sick to think it, but it is probably
true. Then I read this and for some reason it hit me like a ton of bricks.

"In a recent radio interview I was sternly asked by the host, who did not
consider himself a Christian, to defend Christianity. I told him that I
couldn't do it, and moreover, that I didn't want to defend the term. He
asked me if I was a Christian and I told him yes. 'Then why don't you want
to defend Christianity?' he asked, confused. I told him I no longer knew
what the term meant. Of the hundreds of thousands of people listening to his
show that day, some of them had terrible experiences with Christianity; they
may have been yelled at by a teacher in a Christian school, abused by a
minister, or browbeaten by a Christian parent. To them, the term
Christianity meant something that no Christian I know would defend. By
fortifying the term, I am only making them more and more angry. I won't do
it. Stop ten people on the street and ask them what they think of when they
hear the word Christianity and you will get ten different answers. How can I
defend a term that means ten different things to ten different people? I
told the radio show host that I would rather talk about Jesus and how I came
to believe that Jesus exists and that He likes me. The host looked back at
me with tears in his eyes. When we were done, he asked me if we could go get
lunch together. He told me how much he didn't like Christianity but how he
had always wanted to believe Jesus was the Son of God."

It struck me as I was reading how often Don Miller says that Jesus likes
somebody. Not "loves", which we have skewed beyond all recognition and has
far too many meanings. Likes. We know what that means. If you like
somebody, you want to hang out with them, do nice things for them and go have
fun together. It means you consider them a friend and invite them to your
birthday parties and sleepovers and sit up late and talk on the phone and are
happy to see them randomly at the mall. It's easy to say "Jesus loves me"
because the term is so ambiguous and has so many meanings. I hear people say
(fairly often, sadly) "I love them, I just don't LIKE them," and truth be
told, I am guilty of thinking it myself, though maybe not in so many words.
Jesus likes me. Jesus likes you. He wants to go have ice cream with us and
sit on the sofa till two in the morning talking and laughing and crying. He
wants us to call Him up on a Tuesday evening when we have nothing to do and
just chat about things. He wants to meet all our friends and watch us play
Frisbee and doesn't care if we are awful at sports. He likes us. He loves
us too, and that's where the dying and forgiveness and Spirit and even
chastisement come from. But we separate that out somehow and in our own
petty way manage to view him as a rich and eccentric uncle who will leave us
all his money if we do some peculiar things like change our name and eat peas
twice a week and marry somebody who is related to somebody named Frankenstein
or something. Jesus doesn't want to write us into a will. He wants to be in
a relationship with us; one that looks like a super awesome version of
friendship. It's really wonderful.

Spurgeon Notes #233: 1 Timothy 1:15

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." - 1 Timothy 1:15

Paul had described his ordination in verse 12. He then went on to speak of the grace manifested in the call of such a person to the ministry (verse 13), and of the further grace by which he was sustained in that ministry. Incidentally, he was led to mention the message of his ministry. We may profitably use the text on this occasion.

I. HOW WE PREACH THE GOSPEL.

1. As a certainty. It is a "faithful saying." We do not doubt the truth of our message, or how could we expect you to believe it? We believe and are sure because:

- It is a revelation of God.

- It is attested by miracles.

- It bears its witness within itself.

- It has proved its power upon our hearts.
2. As an everyday truth. It is to us a "saying" or proverb.

The gospel affects us at home, in business, in sickness, in health, in life, in youth and age, in death.
3. As having a common bearing, therefore, a "saying" to be heard by all kinds of people, especially the most sinful.

- All have sinned and need a Savior.

- All who believe in Jesus have a Savior.

- All believers show by their lives that Jesus has saved them.

4. As claiming your attention. "Worth of all acceptation."

- You must believe it to be true.

- You must appropriate it to yourself.

- You ought to do so, for it is worth of your acceptance.

II. WHAT GOSPEL DO WE PREACH?

1. The gospel of a person: "Christ Jesus."

- He is the Anointed of God: "Christ."

- He is the Savior of men: "Jesus."

- He is God and man in one person.

- He died and yet he lives for ever.

2. The gospel of divine visitation. Jesus came into the world:

- By his birth as a man.

- By he mingling with men.

- By his bearing our sorrows and our sins for us.

3. The gospel for sinners:
- For such Jesus lived and labored.

- For such he died and made atonement.

- For such he has sent the gospel of pardon.

- For such he pleads in heaven.

4. The gospel of a finished work.

- He finished the work of salvation before he left the world.

- That work continues complete to this day.

- He is ready to apply it to all who come to him.

5. The gospel of effectual deliverance. " To save sinners."

- Not to half save them.

- Nor to make the salvable.

- Nor help them to save themselves.

- Nor to save them as righteous.

- But to save them wholly and effectually from their sins.

III. WHY DO WE PREACH IT?

1. Because we have been saved by it.

2. Because we are now in sympathy with Jesus and wish to save sinners, even the chief of them.

3. Because we believe it will be a blessing to all of you who hear it. If you are saved by it, you will be happy, and so shall we.

4. Because we cannot help it, for an inward impulse compels us to tell of the miracle of mercy wrought upon us.

Will you not believe a saying so sure?

Will you not accept a truth so gladsome?

Will you not come to a Saviour so suitable?

Spurgeon Notes #238: Titus 2:10

"That they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." - Titus 2:10

The apostle greatly values the doctrine of the gospel, or he would not care so much to have it adorned. The apostle highly esteems the practical part of religion, hence he regards it as the beauty and ornament of the gospel. What a wide range of practical instruction we find in this short letter! With what holy ingenuity is this interwoven with the doctrine! We are bidden to obey the precept that we may adorn the doctrine. We have in our text:

I. A NAME OF ADORNMENT FOR THE GOSPEL. " The doctrine of God our Savior."

1. It sets forth its greatness: "doctrine of God."

- Our fall, ruin, sin, and punishment were great.

- Our salvation and redemption are great.

- Our safety, happiness, and hopes are great.

2. It sets forth its certainty. It is "of God."

- It comes by revelation of God.

- It is guaranteed by the fidelity of God.

- It is as immutable as God himself.

3. It sets forth its relation to Christ Jesus: "of God our Saviour."

- He is the author of it.

- He is the substance of it.

- He is the proclaimer of it.

- He is the object of it. The gospel glorifies Jesus.

4. It sets forth its authority.

- The whole system of revealed truth is of God.

- The Savior himself is God, and hence he must be accepted.

- The gospel itself is divine. God's mind is embodied in the doctrine of the Lord Jesus and to reject it is to reject God.

Let us believe, honor, defend and propagate this "doctrine of God our Saviour." What else is so worth of our love and zeal?

II. A METHOD OF ADORNMENT FOR THE GOSPEL.

This is a remarkable verse. Observe:

1. The persons who are to adorn the gospel.

- In Paul's day, bond servants or slaves.

- In our day, poor servants of the humblest order.

Strange that these should be set to such a task!

Yet, the women slaves adorned their mistresses, and both men and women of the poorest class were quite ready to adorn themselves.

From none does the gospel receive more honor than from the poor.

2. The way in which these persons could specially adorn the gospel:

- By obedience to their masters (verse 9).

- By endeavors to please them: "please them well."

- By restraining their tongues: "not answering again."

- By scrupulous honesty: "not purloining" (verse 10).

- By trustworthy character: "showing all good fidelity."

All this would make their masters admire the religion of Jesus.

3. The way of adornment of the doctrine in general.

Negatively, it is found:

- Not in the decoration of the building, the priest, the choir, or the worshippers.

- Nor in the attraction of peculiar garb and speech.

- Nor in the finery of philosophical thought.

- Nor in the tawdriness of rhetorical speech.

Positively, it lies in another direction.

- We must adorn it by our godly lives.

- Adornment, if really so, is suitable to beauty. Holiness, mercifulness,cheerfulness are congruous with the gospel.

- Adornment is often a tribute to beauty. Such is a godly conversation; it honors the gospel.

- Adornment is an advertisement of beauty. Holiness calls attention to the natural beauty of the gospel.

- Adornment is an enhancement of beauty. Godliness gives emphasis to the excellence of doctrine.

Let us all endeavor to adorn the gospel, by:

- Strict integrity in business.

- Constant courtesy of behaviour.

- Unselfish love to all around us.

- Quick forgiveness of injuries.

- Abundant patience under trials.

- Holy calm and self-possession at all times.

New Series: Spurgeon's Sermon Notes

I recently acquired a collection of Spurgeon's Sermon Notes. I've found much value in reading his notes recently and have decided to share select sermons with you here. From now on, when you see Spurgeon's name in the title of a post, you can know that the included text is entirely the work of Spurgeon himself, and not from me.

Who is Spurgeon? Charles Haddon Spurgeon was a British preacher in the mid 19th century. Over his lifetime he preached to an estimated 10,000,000 people. He generally preached from a single verse, teaching from the themes found in the text. Today, over 3,500 of his sermons exist in their complete text, most of which can be viewed online at websites such as http://www.spurgeongems.org/sermons.htm. The volume that I have and will be sharing from is not the complete text from his sermons, but rather just the notes, which are very helpful in getting directly to the meat of the text.

As you read these notes, I would encourage you to use the comments on each post to discuss your thoughts, observations, and questions regarding the post. Certainly, if God reveals something to you as a result of Spurgeon's teaching, comment about that too.

Enjoy!

Election and Salvation

Oftentimes I wonder when I was actually saved. I don't have a particular "conversion experience" as some have. I don't know the day, the year, or even the decade in which I first expressed saving faith. But does it matter?

In one particular oft-debated verse, Peter states "The Lord is…not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (2 Peter 3:9 ESV). There are a few particularly difficult words in this verse, mainly 'wishing' and 'any'. The first can be especially difficult as some translations (such as the KJV) render the word as 'will'. But the ultimate difficulty of this passage lies not with God's wishing or willing, but rather with the scope of the word 'any'. Some insist on a universal scope, an idea leading to universalism, the doctrine that all human beings eventually escape judgment. But we know this to be false - only those who express true saving faith in Christ are saved (Romans 10:9). We instead must look to the context of the passage - who is this 'any'? Immediately before the quoted phrase, Peter writes that the Lord "is patient toward you." This narrows our scope of 'any' down to 'you.' It is you whom with the Lord is patient, He does not wish that any of you should perish. Okay, who is you? You is precisely the recipients of the letter in which Peter writes! These are "those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1: 2 ESV). In Peter's first epistle he refers to this group as elect (1 Peter 1:1-2). We can now clarify 2 Peter 3:9 as to say that "The Lord is…not wishing that any of the elect should perish, but that all of the elect should reach repentance".

This is great news for answering the question I posed earlier. I don't know the hour in which I first expressed saving faith, but I do know that today my name is written in the book of life. More than that, as I am now numbered among the elect, I have always been numbered among the elect - even before I first confessed with my mouth and believed in my heart that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead. Even further still, God preserved me and guided me from the moment I was born until the day that faith became my own, as it was his wish and will to save me. Because of his sovereign hand alone - I did not, will not, perish - but instead reached repentance. And I continue today living within the guarantee of his Holy Spirit until I receive the inheritance which I have obtained from him. (Ephesians 1:11-14).

Are you pondering what I'm pondering?

So anyways, I'm doing a reading plan called "Bible in 90 days". It's basically the P90x of reading plans. It's quite intense in the way of sheer amount of reading. Reading on average about 10 chapters a day. Something that's really struck me is how my own view of the Old Testament has changed since I started. I used to not like reading it. I just didn't find it applicable. It was more of a "So God created earth, then they ate fruit and everything turned horrible...Ok, I get that. Then he had some special people do special things, and they had these 10 laws. Ok, check. And then they killed some bad people and God was cool with that. And then they had kingdoms, then they screwed up, now their captured, now there back, oh hey! Time for the New Testament!" It was more like reading a history assignment. But my understanding of it has grow so much more as I study it (surprising, I know), and the walk-through with the Rock is helping as well. The wonder of the Cross is so much more so now that I can see what it used to be like. I now understand why it was such a revolutionary thing. No longer do we have to sacrifice to atone any iota of cleanliness. We are the New Israelits, set apart by God. We don't have to use an intermediary to seek counsel with God; we can approach him confidently now that we are pure in his sight. My understanding of Grace has been magnified so much more so now that I've come to these realizations. And some things have really stood out too. In Genesis, Abraham is able to recognize God (what he recognizes is up for debate whether it's a physical aspect, or something much more) when he/his messengers appear before him in Genesis 16. We're only told of a few people in the Bible that had that kind of relationship with God, where they actually interact with him personally. Some of them were Moses, the prophets (the prosecuting attorneys of the time), and Abraham. Abraham's relationship was so radical. I can't think of anyone else off the top of my head that met with God like that before Abraham. And it's quite encouraging too, that even when they were living under the old law, they could have such an intimate connection. Now that we have been redeemed eternally, no longer under the yoke of the past Covenant, how much more so can our relationship with God be? We don't have to purify ourselves to meet with him, because Christ resides in us! I wish more than anything to have that Abraham-God relationship, and am seeking it earnestly. I hope this is an encouragement to my fellow believers who will read this, and not just some ramblings.
I hope this finds you in good health and whatnot.

Your Brotha in Christ,

Chris

I'm back!

Hi everyone! I got back from China a week ago, and it was a good trip. We got to see a lot of different parts of China, including some really neat rural villages in Yunnan Province and Inner Mongolia. There were ten students altogether, and we had a lot of fun doing stuff like climbing mountains, watching Mongolian-style wrestling and horse races, teaching Chinese schoolkids duck-duck-goose, and eating chicken that had been alive 30 minutes earlier. (It was actually pretty good--it was just a little weird because they cut up and cooked the whole chicken.) The only downside of the trip was being away from Christian fellowship for so long. I'm not entirely sure whether any of the other nine students were Christians, and it got a little lonely at times. I've moved up to Decorah for the rest of the summer, and I'll be spending the next two months or so up here helping with the new church here.

I was reading this morning in Romans 8 (one of my favorite chapters). I really like the part in Romans 8:37 where it talks about how we are "more than conquerors", even in all the trials of life. It's good to be reminded that no matter what happens, we are victorious through Jesus Christ, who triumphed over death, broke the power of sin in our lives, and reconciled us to God for all eternity. To him be the glory!

The Gospel: Not just Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

The other morning I started reading the gospel of Mark and was struck by a familiar theme: The entirety of Scripture, not just the four books formally titled as 'The Gospel', is the gospel! The book starts with:

The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in Isaiah the prophet:
"I will send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way" -
"a voice of one calling in the desert, ' Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' " (Mark 1:1-3).

Admittedly, the author may have been referring simply to the beginning of the written text of his gospel, but it also seems to me that Mark may be referring to the fact that the gospel was prepared long before Christ physically appeared on earth. Paul declares that the gospel was promised beforehand, stating that he was set aside for "the gospel he promised beforehand through the prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son" (Romans 1:2-3). Upon searching, we find these promises all over Scripture, starting as early as Genesis 3. Reading on we see that God has been working out his perfect plan ever since. Even as I read through Leviticus (trying to imitate David's attitude towards the law throughout Psalm 119), I am constantly blown away by God's sovereign plan that everyone would come to repentance, accepting the atonement for their sins which He has provided and then trust and follow Him as he desires.

Along these thoughts, I've been mulling over these verses the past few days:

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:21-26)

Paul affirms that all the Law and the Prophets testify to and declare the righteousness which is available from God. (Christ agrees when he uses the Scriptures to explain himself in Luke 24:27). This righteousness is from faith alone! (Remember Abraham?) And why did God give this to us? Because of his justice. Through Christ, we have a righteous, legal standing before God. Through Christ alone we can walk with God in the way God intended from the beginnings when God created us in His image and called it "very good" (Genesis 1:31).

Praise the Father for his mercy and justice, the Son for his love and obedience, and the Spirit for his indwelling presence and wonderful counsel!

Purpose: To glorify God

This is the purpose of the Church I am attending here in Wyoming. They even have stickers for your Bible that say, “I got my purpose right” that you can get if you tell a sticker-giver that your purpose is to glorify God.

Today, the Pastor shared a few thoughts from 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. He didn’t preach on verse 5, but I read it and started pondering. “I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.” Why does Paul want to boast about his weaknesses?

Someone can boast about their weaknesses and do it in such a manner that does not glorify God. The point of boasting about our weaknesses is to point to the grace of Christ; it is to God’s glory that he has done such a great work in such rubbish like us. If, in our boasting, or bemoaning rather, we end on us, it is pride and sin. We must not steal from God’s glory by drawing attention to ourselves. Our purpose is to glorify God, even (or especially) in our shortcomings.

Delight, like Paul, in your weaknesses; they are a reminder of your need for a Savior and give God an opportunity to display his mighty power.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Obedience

Thoughts from the sermon this morning at church:

John 10:17-18

“The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

God commanded Jesus to die on the cross. I have never quite connected those dots. I have heard Philippians 2:8 before—“Christ became obedient to death—even death on a cross!”—but it was today that I recognized that Christ was obedient to death because God had given him a command to die.

Questions for reflection:

What has God command me to do?

Do I obey these commands or do I take them lightly?

Another thing I have been pondering is this phrase: “The reason my Father loves me is that [I obey him]. A brother once shared with me, “obedience is God’s love language.” 1 John 5:3 says this: “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.”

Not only was Christ’s love for God evident through his obedience, God’s love for Christ was made possible through his obedience.

Again, these questions arise:

What has God command me to do?

Do I obey these commands or do I take them lightly?

More often than not I do not take obedience serious enough.

From My Calloused Heart To Love

Since reading Ben's blog about our hearts becoming calloused, I began to see how my own heart had become wounded and walls I put up to prevent future pain. I see two main results of my heart becoming calloused. One: I sort of stopped inviting people to the Rock. Two: I stopped letting my heart get super-attached to brothers and sisters at the Rock.

More on One: In previous years, I was constantly inviting people to the Rock. I wanted to see changed lives and was convinced that coming to the Rock was a good first step. Looking back, I can see a couple reasons that I stopped doing this. A. I was kind of burnt out from inviting and organizing and keeping track of the people I brought at the Rock, and basically needed to be refreshed at the Rock. B. I had shared the gospel with two of my best friends from high school, they came to the Rock a few times, and they still don' t know the Lord. So then I started thinking well what do unbelievers really get out of coming to the Rock? And had decided in my heart that the Rock was to spur on the saints.

I heard at a Josh McDowell conference once that our beliefs shape our actions. And boy is it true. I subconsciously believed that the Rock is for the saints and I need to be refreshed, so I did not go out of my way to invite/bring people. Besides, if I didn't bring anyone, my hopes of them coming to know the Lord would not lead to disappointment.

I have since shared this with a couple of my life group girls and we talked about inviting unbelievers to the Rock being good because they get to meet your friends, see the love of the saints (for one another and for them), they get to hear truth, you can talk about what they thought of the message and figure out more where they're at.

And we don't have power over people being saved. We are called to love and part of loving people is telling them what is true and praying our socks off. It is the Spirit that has to come upon them. It is between them and God. So I will keep loving my friends from high school, keep hoping and praying that they would believe and be saved, pick the callous on my heart that it may bleed again.

More on Two: So I was first introduced to the Great Commission (GC) Churches through the Des Moines church. Most people there are committed to their local church and because of their commitment, as a church they have been able to make great strides for the kingdom in the Des Moines area. When I came to college, almost three years ago, I thought this commitment to the local church and this church being what people do with their lives was a characteristic of all GC Churches. So I plugged in to the Rock here in Ames with the mindset that we're all going to do this together forever or until some are sent on a church plant. As I began to realize that very few dear brothers and sisters were not of this mindset, my hopes were again disappointed. And as a result, my subconscious mindset became 'well, I don't want to cry when they graduate and leave so I'll just hold back and not get too close to them.' Now, as I am aware of this, I realize that I would much rather love the saints and the lost with all of Christ's love, allowing my heart and mind to be connected to people by praying for them and pouring into them and letting them pour into me, and I would much rather have lots of tears at their departure than "protecting" my heart for years.

Despite these things, God still used me this past year. Yea, for the gospel. God's ability to use us is not dependent us. He is in the process of purifying us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). He is building His kingdom through the righteous acts of rebels. God is able to use us even in, maybe even especially in, our broken, screwed up state. Glory to the Lord on high.

Here are some things I read yesterday about love: (these first bits are12, from the Faithwalkers Journal October 12, 13, 14, 15 2009 By John Meyer)

"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Galatians 5:6b Here's an important truth: what you bring into the world as a Christian is only what you know of the love of Jesus Christ.

"When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed..." 1 Cor. 15:37

You are one who is designed by God. You are one is loved by God. Everything God makes, he loves, except what sin mars, and in a believer's life, God says, "I'm getting it back." And that is what redemption is all about: God seeing exactly who you are, exactly who He wanted you to be, exactly as He made you the perfect seed.

If you look at yourself and say, "Well, you know, God could have had better taste," remember, you're only a seed. Seeds are sort of ugly and wrinkly. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that when a seed is planted, what comes up is not what went down. You're going to be glorious and what you are right now was created to become wonderful and beautiful in the eyes of God. That is who we are. If that's not true-if you and I are not a wonder and a glory-nothing else is true.

Yet, if you didn't wake up this morning just totally over-joyed like Steele Croswhite is all the time-if you didn't wake up like that, all over-joyed in the love of God, you weren't believing it this morning. No way. You can't believe that an infinite, holy, absolutely perfect God passionately loves you and not be excited about it. It's not possible. I mean, I'm excited when a guy I don't know across the hall likes me, you know?

That excitement is what moved the early believers.

Jesus said to his disciples, "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Now remain in my love." John 15:9 The early Christians were driven by the same thing: "For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this: that one died for all..." 2 Cor. 5:12 That was their mindset. So we must understand this reality -the love of Christ lays a claim on our lives.

"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you." The Father just loves Jesus, and Jesus just loves you. "Now remain in His love"-and you're saying, "Oh man, tell me where to stand! I want to remain in His love! Tell me, I want to know where it's coming down. I just want to stand there, like a shower -Lord, just let it roll over me! I need to be washed in it!"

Jesus says, "It's not too complicated." John 15:10, 12 "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in His love...My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

There's a dimension of love that is no matter what you do: you can blow up my house and I can love you. But when that happens, we don't have any relationship. Jesus didn't say that he would withdraw His love; He just says, "You stepped out of it. It's over here."

I've also read some in a book called, "A Love Worth Giving" By Max Lucado. He references Luke 7 with Jesus eating at Simon's house and the woman washing His feet with her tears.

He says, "You'd think Simon of all people would show such love. Is he not the reverend of the church, the student of Scripture? But he is harsh, distant. You'd think the woman would avoid Jesus. Is she not the woman of the night, the town hussy? But she can't resist him. Simon's "love" is calibrated and stingy. Her love, is extravagant and risky." The love from my calloused heart, had become calibrated and stingy. Lord, may our love be extravagant and risky!

Lucado continues that the difference between Simon and the woman was that she came thirsty, gulping down the goblet of grace, drinking until "mercy flowed down her chin and onto her neck and chest." Whereas Simon didn't know he was thirsty. He didn't need grace, he analyzed. He doesn't request mercy, he debates it. It's not that he couldn't be forgiven just that he never asks. While she drinks up, he puffs up. She has ample love to give. He has none to offer.

We can't give what we haven't received. Yet we try to love others without Christ's love. "As if we could conjure up love by the sheer force of will...What's our typical strategy for treating a troubled relationship? Try harder." I'm suppose to forgive and love. "So we try. Teeth clenched. Jaw firm. We're going to love if it kills us!"

"Could it be we are missing a step? Could it be that the first step of love is not toward them but toward him? Could it be the secret of loving is receiving? You give love by first receiving it." John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.

Long to be more loving? Accept that you are a dearly loved child. "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us." Eph. 5:1-2

Want to forgive? "A person who is forgiven little shows only little love." Luke 7:47 We're wretches, sinners, and rebels toward God, consider how you've been forgiven. "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ forgave you." Eph. 4:32

Finding it hard to put others first? Think of how Christ put you first. "Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God." Phil.2:6.

Patience? "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." 2 Peter 3:9

Generosity? Putting up with people? God put up with you. Luke 6:35 "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."

"Can't we love like this? Not without God's help we can't. Oh, we may succeed for a time. But if we haven't received these things ourselves, how can we give them to others? Apart from God,'the heart is deceitful above all things' Jer. 17:9.

A marriage-saving love is not within us. A friendship-saving devotion cannot be found in our hearts. Spouses need foot-washings. Friends need a flood of tears. Children need to be covered in the oil of our love. Start by receiving God's love."

And I'm only on page 7. : /

In other news, scientists did not disprove God

I don't really expect this to rock anybody's world, but in case you missed it, a geneticist named Venter and a molecular biologist named Gibson collaborated to synthesize a living cell. I'm not sure how or if history will remember the feat (it is possible to spin this as creating life), but I fell it should be put in context. Per a Wall Street Journal editorial by Venter and Gibson themselves:

Kornberg did not create life in a test tube, nor did we create life from scratch. We transformed existing life into new life. We also did not design and build a new chromosome from nothing. Rather, using only digitized information, we synthesized a modified version of the naturally occurring Mycoplasma mycoides genome. The result is not an "artificial" life form. It is a very real, self-replicating cell that most microbiologists would be unable to readily distinguish from the naturally occurring counterpart without the aid of DNA sequencing.

So, basically they took DNA from a cell, replicated it, and put it in another cell. Really freaking cool, but not creation of life ex nihilo, nor even from non-living cells, and most certainly nothing compared to the power of our Creator. God is still far bigger than people with lab coats and Bunsen burners, and He did not need 15 years and $40 million to do the stuff they only dream of.

Psalm 138:8

The past few days the same verse has been echoing in my head. The Psalmist writes:

"He will fulfill his purposes for us;
your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands."
- Psalm 138:8 (ESV)

This is such great news ! The Lord, filled with forever-enduring steadfast love will not forsake us, but will fulfill his purposes for us.

This verse seems very similar to Romans 8:28 where Paul tell us that God "works for the good of those who love him." Unfortunately, we have an imperfect definition of good and we often view this good in terms of our own worldly interests. Does God working things out for our good mean that we're going to get everything we desire? The job? The grade? The spouse? That extra hour of sleep? Sometimes, yes. But often his will and purpose are good for us in a deeper sense than we can initially understand.

We must take comfort, then, that His purposes are for our good. And he will fulfill his purposes. He will not merely try and give up as we so often do, but his purposes will be fulfilled.

We serve a great and awesome God, don't we?

The Covenants of God

God is jealous for us, both individually and as a people. Throughout Scripture God speaks of this desire and establishes what he calls covenants between himself and man. Sometimes these covenants are spoken of as "The Covenant of Works" beginning with Adam and Eve in the garden, and then "The Covenant of Grace" that is centered around the grace we find in the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ. Now, we could spend time defining each of these, but one thing that's struck me recently is the underlying theme of all of God's relational desires for us. He defines it quite succinctly a few times throughout Jeremiah when he says

"I will be their God, and they will be my people" (Jeremiah 31:33).

Isn't this incredible? We can look at this from both our perspective and His. From His perspective, he wants to be our God (Exodus 20:2) by shepherding us (Psalm 23:1), keeping us safe in the day of trouble (Psalm 27:5), leading us from temptation (Matthew 6:12), disciplining us (Deuteronomy 8:5), loving us (1 John 4:19), working things out for our good (Romans 8:28), and ultimately giving us eternal life (Romans 6:23). From our perspective, we are to be his people by worshiping him alone as God (Exodus 20:3-6), ascribing Him glory (Psalm 29:1), seeking Him (Psalm 63:1), meeting together (Hebrews 10:25), singing together (Colossians 3:16), suffering and rejoicing together (1 Corinthians 12:26) and loving one another (Romans 12:10). [Note: neither of these lists is exhaustive in any context.]
We must now note what the verse does not say. It does not say "I will be your God, and you will be my person." God frequently expresses his promises to groups of people, called the church, of which Christ is the head (Colossians 1:18).
Taken together, we have great insight into the heart of God, which should be our hearts as well. Along with the great commission (Matthew 28:18-20), we can easily see where our priorities are to lie:

1. Love God
2. Love the Saints
3. Love the Lost

Praise God for his unchanging and everlasting covenants with us!

Breath of God

Good lyrics from church that have been on my mind recently. Particularly the bolded part.

A life you cannot define
A purpose that's benign
They need to see and believe
Be lead to the rugged tree

The one on which He cried
not for His pain but for our debt
The very same tree that He conquered death
It was an unfair deal on the part of Christ
He got my sin I got eternal life

Make me the breath of God
And I'll show them the One
that means the most to me
They'll see the face of love
Be touched by the very One
that died upon the tree
Oh, Make me the breath of God
And I'll show them the One
that means the most to me
They'll see the face of love
Be touched by the very One
that died upon the tree

Small talk is a better choice..
A way to avoid Your voice
I need to feel the dust on my knees
And lead them to the tree

The one on which He cried
not for His pain but for our debt
The very same tree that He conquered death
It was an unfair deal on the part of Christ
He got my sin I got eternal life

Make me the breath of God
And I'll show them the One
that means the most to me
They'll see the face of love
Be touched by the very One
that died upon the tree
Oh, Make me the breath of God
And I'll show them the One
that means the most to me
They'll see the face of love
Be touched by the very One
that died upon the tree

Will you follow me?
Lead them to the tree?
Can't you just believe?
Will you take a knee?
For eternity?
For eternity?

Make me the breath of God
And I'll show them the One
that means the most to me
They'll see the face of love
Be touched by the very One
that died upon the tree
Oh, Make me the breath of God
And I'll show them the One
that means the most to me
They'll see the face of love
Be touched by the very One
that died upon the tree

Oh, I'll be the breath of God

Have a great week everyone.

Company Time

The past couple days I was actually on a trip to the Waterloo area, as my boss/manager had to reschedule a meeting overseas to the first week of my work as a result of that volcano fun. I ended up doing a bunch of tours and training sessions to learn about the things that I will be working with over the summer, and one of those was heading up to the Cedar Falls & Waterloo area for two days to tour facilities there and meet with some of the people there, learning about their capabilities and such.

Throughout the course of the trip, it occurred to me how interesting it was – I was driving up there myself, to be reimbursed, staying at a hotel, paid for by Deere, eating dinner, apparently also paid for by Deere, and working with people from Deere there. Everything was taken care of either logistically or financially by John Deere.

Thinking about that gave me a large parallel to how God works in our lives. During the course of my trip, I had no choice but to ‘depend’ on Deere, not only am I new to the company but I had never been to that area before. Deere took care of everything I did for those days, making me feel incredibly welcomed and in a good place. It is so easy to see that when there is a physical entity doing so – for example, I could see how everything I needed was taken care of by the company because it physically was so.

But God does the same thing. He takes care of us in every way. We just do not necessarily see it in the same “obviousness” that happens on a company trip or similar, more physically manifested way. Throughout the course of the trip I pondered this and it really made me feel loved by God. Because He does take care of our every need, and He does provide all manner of things for us. The hard part of course is that what we need, and what we want, are not always the same.

Anyways, I just found that really encouraging and a great parallel for how God takes care of us.

Matt 6:26 - Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

I don't know what to do with free time anymore...

It is so bizarre to have an entire evening free, with nothing I need to do. Granted, I have accomplished much in the past 16 waking hours, so perhaps it is to be expected, regardless, the feeling of having a few hours to choose amongst a variety of non-essential options is an unexpected luxury.

After much deliberation (otherwise known as deciding that sleep at 8:00pm on a Saturday night is rather lame, and a CD drive that does not want to function) I decided that it has been a while since I have written much. So as a result, this entry will likely be somewhat lengthy – a scattering of my thoughts in the past week or so. As a result it might be rather hard to read and understand how my thoughts flow. Amazing how much I miss the ability to decompress what is on my mind with all of you on a consistent basis. I may end up posting a lengthy blog after sermons just to do this the “hard” way over the summer. It is also hard to believe that just over seven days ago I was still on the Iowa State University campus and in just over a day I start work.

There have been two events of note for me in the past week.

Thing 1

As a favor to both myself and my mother, I elected to go completely through my room back at my parent’s house. This involved unpacking everything I brought back from Ames, going through everything in my room that it has accumulated over the past years, and then deciding what to keep, what to bring to the Quad Cities, what to bring to Ames next fall, and what to toss. The details of the several day process are not as important as the slew of memories brought back.

Time and time again I was bombarded with memories – a memento there, a letter from a friend, a card from parents, a toy long forgotten, a worn out deck of cards. It simply amazed me as to the sheer volume of memories I found merely sorting through my things. Many joyful, many sorrowful, I got the full variety pack of emotion. Even now, I do not know what to do with a variety of the things I found – will I ever open the “letter to self” I wrote in 10^th grade? What about those papers from high school or college? Or the letter from a friend, or the picture or gift?

It would seem so simple to merely toss them all, ignoring any sentimental value (and on the whole, most of those things have been in my room untouched for years so that sentimental value is not really being utilized...) they might have. In fact I have been at a loss as to what to do with these sorts of things. On one hand, it is more or less a collection of random things representing things I have done and people I’ve known. That is all there really is – it is just stuff. But what makes it so hard to get rid of is the fact that that motley collection of items contains a large percentage of the things which have influenced me to be the person I am today. Good or bad, I am a product of the consequences of what has happened in my life (and the more “bad” a memory is, it likely has far more lasting impact on the person I am today than those that are “good”) and how God has used them to forge me into the person I am today.

This process has led me to a lot of self reflection. I have memories I would not wish to happen again and being reminded of those things is not necessarily something I enjoy. But, and this is the key part, everything that has happened in my life has shaped me and made me the person I am today. I cannot just ignore things, but I can also not dwell on choices I have made.

Something I have really come to appreciate this semester is taking how easily I tend to see how naive I am in the past tense, but not only past tense but also present tense. It makes sense: it is so easy to look back upon our past actions and say “yeah, that was silly” but what that means is that at every instance we are doing the same thing. For whatever reason I have come to appreciate and understand the necessary conclusion from that, being that currently we are also being the same naivety – we just do not see it. So while it is easy to see my past naivety from things that remind me of my past, it is just as true (albeit much harder to see) that I am doing things now I will later view in the same light. The trick is to more quickly realize and change those things... which is why prayer and friends willing to point those things out can be invaluable.

Thing 2

The second thing of note is the message from this evening’s service. I had essentially decided I would not spend a lot of time “shopping” for churches in the area, because with a summer of only 13 weeks, it becomes difficult to realistically shop for a church and plug into the same church if several weeks are in the shopping phase. Fortunately, this afternoon while running some errands I noticed a church that was clearly in a commercial building before, drove by and saw that they had a 5:00 service on Saturday, and decided I’d check it out. Essentially your standard evangelical church, I believe it is called Harvest Bible College – worship music followed by a lengthy Bible based message. Seems to be a relatively solid church. I am not sure if I am crazy but I could just feel the presence of God in the church and during the worship. Pretty neat. Reminded me a lot of the Hillsong concert.

The message was quite inspiring. They must be going through a series on Acts, as the message was based on Acts 17:15-31, which happens to be the section talking about the “unknown God” the Greeks made an idol for. The theme was “Your Life’s Pursuit.”

The bulk of the pastor’s message was around three key points. The first being that, “we must avoid idols.” For some reason though, while I have understood how easy it is to fall into idolatry of all manner of things (money, enjoyment, etc) the message just clicked tonight. I feel much more compelled to look into my own life and root out the variety of things I idolize (see above and the ‘naivety’ part -_-) without even realizing it. Funny how a sermon essentially the same as quite a few I have heard in my life can have such a different impact.

Naturally, when we idolize what we try to do is find satisfaction from something outside God. It also turns out that this doesn’t work, ever, yet for some odd reason it’s really “fun” to continue trying? Rather depressing to think about how clearly and definitely idolizing things fails to hold up. Well, it’s only depressing because of how often I try to do it anyways in spite of that knowledge. The pastor, Dan, showed two different NFL quarterbacks – Tom Brady and Kurt Warner – and talked about their perspectives; both quite successful quarterbacks and successful by the world’s standards.

From a 60 minutes interview with Tom Brady

But with all Brady's fame and career accomplishments, Kroft was surprised to hear this from him: “Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what is.’ I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, ‘God, it's got to be more than this.’ I mean this isn't, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be.”

What's the answer?

“I wish I knew. I wish I knew,” says Brady. "I love playing football and I love being quarterback for this team. But at the same time, I think there are a lot of other parts about me that I’m trying to find."

Conversely,

"If you ever really want to do a story about who I am, God's got to be at the center of it. Every time I hear a piece or read a story that doesn't have that, they're missing the whole lesson of who I am." - Kurt Warner

It just blows my mind how you could say the things that Brady said without having someone tell you “no, you’re right, there is more” but... briefly stated the pastor phrased it as “must find it’s end in God” (referring to the Life’s Pursuit, complete with incorrect ‘its’).

Regardless, the combination of those two points and stuff I had listened to on the radio (I had found a station playing an interview with random sports players on the six hour drive this morning as I was trying to not fall asleep) really hit home. Definitely good.

His last statement was regarding the “well, now what?” question. It does not do a lot of good to say “yep, I idolize that, what’s up!” and not actually change at all. Again, the idea of repentance is one that often gets discussed but I had never really heard it phrased as a u-turn before. Perhaps the fact that I made several of them this morning and afternoon contributed somehow to a deeper understanding... but when you are driving and need to make a u-turn, in general it is because of one of two reasons:

1) you made a mistake and were going the wrong direction

2) for whatever reason the entrance to wherever you are going is blocked on one side of the road

Most of the times I make u-turns are for (1) and not (2) and I think that is exactly the idea that repentance embodies – we are going north instead of south, and what we need to do is turn around on the road, instead of trying to take a back road or the next turn and find our own way. Acknowledging that you are going backwards on the road is by far the best way to get to the right destination while driving, but as before, what is so clear in driving becomes so blurred in life. It’s so easy to make up excuses for why we should not just turn around but when it comes down to it we are better off just turning around the car when we first realize that we are going backwards instead of finding alternatives, because by the time you get turned around, you wasted a lot of time and energy.

Anyways, this has become rather lengthy and I have been up for some 19 hours today already. Hope everyone has a great weekend.