What's in a Name?

From the Liberate blog:

On December 30, 2012 at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church Dr. Jono Linebaugh, Assistant Professor of New Testament at Knox Theological Seminary and Director of Content at LIBERATE, offered a sermon on Matthew 1: 18-25. Entitled “What’s in a Name?” Dr. Linebaugh asks, What does the birth of Jesus in Matthew 1 have to say  to the slaughter of innocents in Bethlehem under Herod in Matthew 2? Linebaugh opens up space through Hugo’s Les Misérables and Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov in order to speak one name to the world’s suffering and pain.

Money Reveals What You Worship

A clip of Pastor Darrin Patrick from The Journey in St. Louis:

Gift vs. Giver

"When you love the answer from God more than you love God, the answer will actually take you away from God." --Darrin Patrick

Think about it. When we desire something God can give us over and above God himself, getting what we want can actually be the worst thing for us. This is idolatry; cherishing the gift above the giver, the creature over the Creator. We think that getting what we want is good, but in reality, it separates from God.

"Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, 

to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 

because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie

and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator"

Romans 1:24-25

"You No Longer Have to Spend the Rest of Your Life Chasing Your Tail"

A great post from Erik Most @ Glimpses of Grace. I am thankful for the gospel ministry of Tullian Tchividjian. This 6 minutes is well-worth listening to. Tullian is answering the questions posed in the book of Ecclesiates on purpose and meaning.


"He's saying look again at your sin. And be reminded that there is nothing you can do to save yourself. Then come up from that examination, and praise God! That in Christ, Jesus has done for sinners, like you and me, what we could ever do for ourself, EVER! And we can celebrate in this truth, that in my place he stood condemned, and sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior!"

New Ethnics in Christ Sermon

Ok, I know this is a 55 minute sermon that I doubt most people will take the time to listen to, but this was preached at the Church I go to (The Journey) this past summer. The person preaching is Leonce Crump, a former NFL player who is currently a pastor in Atlanta. This is one of the better sermons I've ever heard. If you have time, please listen.

Praying to the Father

"And he said to them, 'When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be you name'"

Luke 11:2

Why does Jesus teach us to pray, starting with the word, 'Father'. I think it is easy to assume that the Lord's prayer is all about formula. If we say the right words then God will hear us. Yet, given the very first word of the Lord's prayer, I believe God is telling us that the basis of prayer is relationship, not formula. God doesn't hear us because our prayers are organized correctly, or because of how efficient they are, or because of how great our wording is. No, he hears us because he is our Father, who loves and delights in his sons and daughters. He loves when we come to him in humility, recognizing our need and helplessness as children. 

So, this morning, I am reminded to simply come to God as my Father. 

Following God May End Badly

A great clip from Matt Chandler:

Think Big Ideas About God

I was watching the movie "All the President's Men" (film about Watergate break-in) last night with my family, and this story popped into my memory. It was too good not to share. The following is an illustration by Tim Keller from a sermon titled "Does God Control Everything?" Listen from about 24:00 - 29:00. This story is straight cool. Below is a summary I found of this section from a blog by Andy Naselli. I don't know you Andy, but thanks for typing this up...

1. Tim Keller planted Redeemer Church because he entered a Presbyterian denomination that encouraged church planting.
2. Keller entered that denomination because in his last semester at seminary he took two courses with a professor who convinced him to adopt Presbyterian theology.
3. Keller sat under that professor because at the very last minute the professor arrived at the seminary after having bureaucratic visa problems. (The professor was British.)
4. While that professor was having visa problems, the seminary dean prayed one day about how he didn’t know how they were going to get the professor to arrive, and his prayer partner happened to be a seminary student named Mike Ford.
5. Mike Ford happened to have some clout to get them through the bureaucratic snag because he was the son of Gerald Ford, the sitting President of the United States.
6. Gerald Ford was President of the United States because Richard Nixon resigned.
7. Nixon resigned because a bunch of burglars broke into Watergate and were caught.
8. The burglars were caught because one of them happened to leave a door unlatched to an office they had just bugged, and then a night watchman just happened to walk by and notice the unlatched door.
9. So “if that [burglar] had latched the door,” Keller half jokes, “if that door had been closed just two more inches, we wouldn’t be here tonight. Even Watergate happened for you.”

...

I love this story. There are no coincidences in life, though we often attribute many occasions to them. This serves as a reminder to me to think big ideas about God. This sequence of events was so easy for God to orchestrate, yet it still blows my small mind away. Imagine the orchestration it required for each of us to be saved. Every person we encountered, every conversation we had and every feeling involved, which in perfect sequential order the Lord use to bring us to himself; each a miraculous story. Should that be attributed to chance or human effort? It seems only possible that was God chasing after each of us, to write us into His Story.

Allow Me to Re-Introduce the Christ

A video from P4CM (Passion for Christ Movement). I can't get enough of these. Check them out on youtube if you haven't already. I rejoice in how God has gifted people to creatively write, speak and perform like the people at P4CM. God glorifying truth.

Allow Me to Re-Introduce Christ.....

God's Holiness

I know I am kind of on a youtube posting binge, but this video was brought to my attention last night by Ryan Hoyt. The video includes sermon clips from R.C. Sproul, C.J. Mahaney and John Piper.

Waiting On God

"He does not faint or grow weary;

his understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength.

Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint."

Isaiah 40: 28-31

Here are a couple excerpts from a sermon delivered by Dan Orr at Immanuel Church in Nashville. The sermon was on Isaiah 40 and is straight gold. Here is the link to the full sermon, and his blog, Itsabeautifulgospel. I deeply admire Dan. God has used him in mighty ways to teach me about the Gospel. 

"To wait on something means to depend, hope, rely or to trust something. I suggest that your strength is entirely contingent upon the strength of the one or the what for whom you wait on. The amount of strength you have today, is completely related on the strength of the one you're waiting on. So, if you are waiting upon someone or something with no strength, you will grow faint. You will break down. If you are waiting upon God who is strong, you will be strong.

So, the reason that we are all weary this morning, all of us, is because we are waiting on false gods. We are waiting on things that don't have strength, and we are therefore depleted of our strength, because we are let down. Our weariness is the fruit of misplaced trust."

 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
   made by human hands. ¹⁶ They have mouths, but cannot speak,
   eyes, but cannot see. ¹⁷ They have ears, but cannot hear,
   nor is there breath in their mouths. ¹⁸ Those who make them will be like them,
   and so will all who trust in them.

Psalm 135: 15-18

What a great reminder of the insufficiency of idols. When we depend on our idols, when we trust in 'things' even the best of things, our strength will wither. We will grow weary. It is often good things that we look to for strength. It could be grades, family, relationships, sports, friends. These are great. But they will fail. They don't truly satisfy. They don't give everlasting strength. Only God provides that. Those who wait upon the LORD will not grow weary. Only God is strong. Only He is sufficient. May we wait upon God by gazing upon Him, drawing strength from the One who is everlasting, almighty, and gracious. 

The True Motivation for Justice

Tim Keller in his new book, 'Generous Justice', talking about the Gospel being the ultimate motivation for justice.

"I believe, however, when justice for the poor is connected not to guilt, but to grace and to the gospel, this 'pushes the button' down deep in believers' souls, and they begin to wake up. Here is an example of the kind of argument that accomplishes this. It comes from a sermon by a young Scottish minister early in the nineteenth century, preaching on the text, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive' (Acts 20:35):

'Now, dear Christians, some of you pray night and day to be branches of the true Vine; you pray to be made all over in the image of Christ. If so, you must be like him in giving....'Though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor.'

Objection 1. 'My money is my own.' Answer: Christ might have said, 'My blood is my own, my life is my own'....then where should we have been?

Objection 2. 'The poor are undeserving.' Answer: Christ might have said, 'they are wicked rebels, shall I lay down my life for these? I will give to the good angels.' But no, Christ left the 99 and came after the lost. He gave his blood for the undeserving.

Objection 3. 'The poor may abuse it.' Answer: Christ might have said the same; yea with far greater truth. Christ knew thousands would trample his blood under their feet; that most would despise it; that many would make it an excuse for sinning more; yet he gave his own blood. Oh, my dear Christians! If you would be like Christ, give much, give often, give freely, to the vile and poor, the thankless and the undeserving. Christ is glorious and happy and so will you be. It is not your money I want, but your happiness. Remember his own word, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'"

Continual Grace Upon Us

"However you may have reformed your life in many things, and may have had religious affections, and may keep up a form of religion in your families and closets, and in the house of God, it is nothing but his mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction...You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into fire every moment."

- Edwards: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

....

Those are heavy words, but incredibly liberating. I often overlook sin in my life. Not just things I do or say, but my very diseased nature. I even go through lengths of thought to convince myself I'm doing pretty well based on my lifestyle. These words by Edwards put the deserved weight on my sin and the just consequences. God's wrath is real, and fair. His love is just as real, and gracious. They met at the cross. God gave us a means of salvation through his Son due to his grace. It is all of grace.

Glorious Grace

The last paragraph from a sermon by Jonathan Edwards,

Let those who have been made partakers of this free and glorious grace of God, spend their lives much in praises and hallelujahs to God, for the wonders of his mercy in their redemption. To you, O redeemed of the Lord, cloth this doctrine most directly apply itself; you are those who have been made partakers of all this glorious grace of which you have now heard. 'Tis you that God entertained thoughts of restoring after your miserable fall into dreadful depravity and corruption, and into danger of the dreadful misery that unavoidably follows upon it; 'tis for you in particular that God gave his Son, yea, his only Son, and sent him into the world; 'tis for you that the Son of God so freely gave himself; 'tis for you that he was born, died, rose again and ascended, and intercedes; 'tis to you that there the free application of the fruit of these things is made: all this is done perfectly and altogether freely, without any of your desert, without any of your righteousness or strength; wherefore, let your life be spent in praises to God. When you praise him in prayer, let it not be with coldness and indifferency; when you praise him in your closet, let your whole soul be active therein; when you praise him in singing, don't barely make a noise, without any stirring of affection in the heart, without any internal melody. Surely, you have reason to shout, cry, "Grace, grace, be the topstone of the temple!" Certainly, you don't want mercy and bounty to praise God; you only want a heart and lively affections to praise him with.