adding my amen!

this morning i read a prayer of Augustine's in The Confessions:

O Lord our God,
grant us to trust in your overshadowing wings:
protect us beneath them and bear us up.
You will carry us as little children,
and even to our grey-headed aged you will carry us still.
When you are our strong security, that is strength indeed,
but when our security is in ourselves, that is but weakness.
Our good abides ever in your keeping,
but in diverting our steps from you we have grown perverse.
Let us turn back to you at last, Lord, that we be not overturned.
Unspoilt, our good abides with you,
for you are yourself our good.
We need not fear to find no home again
because we have fallen away from it;
while we are absent our home falls not to ruins,
for our home is your eternity.

AMEN!!!

10 reasons i'm excited summer quizzing starts today

1. i love Bible quizzing
2. the chance to see some new faces giving quizzing a try
3. the chance to see some new faces develop a love for Bible quizzing
4. more than Bible quizzing, i love the Bible
5. Bible quizzing is a great encouragement to memorize large chunks of the Bible
6. the chance to see some new faces be encouraged to memorize large chunks of the Bible
7. we are quizzing on Psalm 119 - probably the greatest exposition on the Bible ever written
8. the chance to see some new faces (and old ones) develop a love for the Bible through memorizing large chunks of the Bible that speak about the great worth and importance of the Bible
9. more than the Bible, i love the God who reveals Himself to us through the Bible
10. the chance to see some new faces (and old ones) get to know the God (and get to know Him better) who reveals Himself through the Bible as they memorize large chunks of the Bible and experience a growing love for Him and His Word!

God, use Your Word today! (1 Peter 1:23-2:3)

a good thing...

back in the day, when we were doing a Bible study through the book of Hebrews, we had a standard comment in reference to Hebrews 11:6 (which says that "without faith it is impossible to please Him") which would pop up again and again in ensuing studies: "pleasing God is a good thing."

well, today as i was reading 2 Corinthians 5:9 the phrase "we make it our aim to please Him" really jumped out at me. i found it especially intriguing that there are "why's" going in both directions from the phrase:

first, the verse begins with the word "so" - "so whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him." why the "so"? - well, looking back in the preceding verses, Paul is talking about our hope of eternity - our eternal dwelling with God - that here and now we are in a "tent" away from the Lord, living by faith rather than by sight... SO the first "why" of aiming to please Him is that we are looking ahead to BEING WITH HIM.

second, verse 10 begins with the word "for" - another "why" looking back to verse 9: "for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." the second "why" is that although the here and now may be temporary, there is a judgment for it.

so there you have it - two reasons to aim to please the Lord, one positive (eternity with Him), one potentially negative (judgment) - and the reminder, "pleasing God is a good thing... and the alternative is wrath." best to make it our aim to please Him! (and praise God that in our failures - our righteousness is found in Christ!!! 2 Corinthians 5:17)

Death in the City

I just finished reading a little book by Francis Schaeffer entitled, "Death in the City." It is a look at our modern/postmodern culture through the lens of the prophet Jeremiah and the first chapter of Romans. I would highly recommend it.  Here are a couple of quotes from the closing pages:

"If a Christian does not pray, if he does not live in an attitude of prayer, then no matter what he says about his doctrine... [h]e is living in unfaith"

"Maybe now we begin to see why in the evangelical church we often have a feeling of dustiness, unreality and abstraction. I think the reason is that many are functioning as though they know less about the universe than the pagan knows. They have moved over in unfaith and are living as though the universe is naturalistic. No wonder there is a dustiness! In such a case the evangelical church is a museum of dead artifacts representing what once was living practice of the doctrine we still say we believe."

"Being a Bible-believing Christian, then, not only means believing with our heads, but in this present moment acting through faith on that belief. True spirituality is acting at the given moment upon the doctrines which one as a Christian says he believes."

"reformation and revival - the return to pure doctrine and the return of individuals and groups to a proper relationship to the Holy Spirit."

fast falls the eventide

there can't be many better ways to finish a day of worship than to sit reading on the front porch on a warm spring evening - reflecting on the providence of God and the lessons He is teaching me through time spent in His Word and the living of life in His world... tonight i took two light, enjoyable reads out with me (ones that i would highly recommend): Spiritual Birthline by Stephen Smallman and The Tapestry by Edith Schaeffer...

Spiritual Birthline is one that i picked up to read in conjunction with my preparation for teaching a sunday school class for the next term on regeneration (using primarily John Piper's Finally Alive)... so what are the chances that the chapter i would read tonight would make heavy reference to the 8th chapter of Acts and the story i just preached from this evening at church... even reinforcing many of the points i was making? well, i'd say 100% knowing how frequently God uses repetition to communicate truths that He is trying to teach me!

The Tapestry is the autobiography of Francis and Edith Schaeffer and the underlying theme throughout the book ties in well with the idea of being sensitive to how God is working in lives - mine and those around me... resting secure in the knowledge of His plan and trusting Him for guidance...


as i reflect on the past week, i praise God for what He has done... as i look ahead to the week to come, i ask for wisdom, direction and strength - may i be a vessel in the Lord's hand to do His will...

"The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me; Your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of Your hands." Psalm 138:8

"a graduation from and a commencement of... ! ... an ending and a beginning! How incredible it is that Christianity gives us that to look forward to. We don't have to watch the sand run out of the sandglass of life's time for ourselves or for our loved ones without realizing that really, truly, actually, without any vestige of doubt, cruel though separation is, and hard though the contemplation of change is, we are moving toward a graduation which is also a commencement." edith schaeffer

abide with me: fast falls the eventide;
the darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide:
when other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
help of the helpless, o abide with me.

swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;
earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
change and decay in all around i see;
o Thou who changest not, abide with me.

i need Thy presence every passing hour;
what but Thy grace can foil the tempter's pow'r?
who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?
through cloud and sunshine, o abide with me.

i fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness,
where is death's sting? where, grave, thy victory?
i triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies:
heav'n's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee:
in life, in death, o Lord, abide with me.

another one of those days for question 1

today we said "goodbye for now" to the dear lady who taught me (and hundreds of others) in the nursery class in sunday school... never was any doubt that she was a Philippians 2:3-4 woman. who knew that one of the neighborhood kids she used to go and pick up to bring to church would turn out to be my foster brother?!? O God, raise up others like her in the church!

my thoughts can't help but turn again to the beginning of the heidelberg catechism:

Q: What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A: That I am not my own, but belong - body and soul, in life and in death - to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven: in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to Him, Christ, by His Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him.

jingle, jingle, happy bells!!!

good will hunting?

various thoughts while sitting in Isaiah 53 on this Good Friday...

• Jesus was intimately familiar with the Scriptures... i can't help but think that Isaiah 53:10 was on His mind as He prayed in the garden "yet not what I will, but what You will" - "it was the will of the LORD to crush him; He has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hands."
• the incredible contrasts of crushing/prospering, anguish/satisfaction in verses 10-11 - this interplay ties in well with Hebrews 12:2 "who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame"
• the repeated explanation of the "why": "for our transgressions," "for our iniquities," "the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all," "stricken for the transgression of my people," "an offering for sin," "make many to be accounted righteous," "he shall bear their iniquities," "he bore the sin of many," "makes intercession for the transgressors"
• my mind is drawn to the Ethiopian eunuch sitting in his chariot, reading these same words when the Holy Spirit sends Philip to the Gaza road - "do you understand what you are reading?" "how can I, unless someone guides me?... about whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or someone else?" "then Philip opened his mouth and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus." - am i prepared to share like Philip? am i praying/looking for eunuchs? God, use me!