Author: Brian
Follower of Jesus, Husband, Dad, Grandpa, and Pastor
Current
Here are some helpful posts for the church on our response to the transgender issue:
What Should the Church Say to Bruce Jenner? – Russell Moore
How Should We Respond to Caitlyn Jenner? – Jon Bloom (DG)
If Rachel Dolezal Isn’t Black, How Is Caitlyn Jenner A Woman? – Sean Davis (Federalist)
Prayer Quote of the Week
Prayer is the antidote for the disease of self-confidence.
– John Piper
Sermon Songs: Isaiah 61
Jesus the Lord’s Anointed One
Proclaims the year of grace
A great reversal, salvation
For us, the human race
The poor receive great hope anew
The humble His mercy
The mourning find His comfort true
The captive liberty
Those ruined by their sin and shame
Once broken and hopeless
Now beautiful in Jesus’ name
Clothed in His righteousness
So go to Jesus every hour
Find grace to meet your need
In all your weakness, seek His power
Upon His favor feed
Our Lord will come, end suffering
All evil He’ll defeat
We’ll praise Him with great rejoicing
Our salvation complete
– From a sermon on Isaiah 61
(To the tune of “O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing”)
Consider
When the fire of service to God grows cold, consider what great things the Lord has done for you.
– Donald Whitney in Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
Go to Jesus
In Isaiah 61, we are encouraged to go to Jesus.
Go to Jesus with your poverty and affliction and receive good news of hope for future.
Go to Jesus with your mourning and sorrow and find his comfort.
Go to Jesus with your captivity to sin and find freedom.
Go to Jesus with your sin and receive forgiveness and righteousness.
Go to Jesus with the ruins of your life and let him rebuild you into something beautiful.
Go to Jesus with your shame and dishonor and receive the honor and joy found in him.
What do you need to go to Jesus for today?
Passion Points
Here are some good posts primarily aimed at young adults, but with some good wisdom for all of us:
Students! Seize the Summer to Grow in Godliness, Not Decline in Laziness – Geoff Kirkland
If you don’t plan you’ll fail. If you don’t busy yourself with the right things you’ll make yourself busy with time-wasters.
Letter to Teens Unboxing Their First Smartphone – Tim Challies (DG)
It is an incredible piece of technology that can be used in many different ways. It can be used to do so many good things, but if you are not wary, it can also be used to do an awful lot of bad things. So before you power it on for the first time, I think it would be wise to invest just a few minutes in thinking and planning.
Lessons For Young Men – Geoff Kirkland
Our world desperately needs men. Real men. Manly men. Godly men. Holy men. Courageous men. Men who fear no one because they fear their God more.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with your local church!
Why Do You Serve?
Do you serve on that church committee with gladness or with gloom? Do you serve your neighbors willingly or reluctantly? Do your kids get the impression from you that serving God is something you really enjoy or merely endure?
– Donald Whitney in Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
Current
I was talking to some other pastors this week about same-sex marriage, and we noted the great confusion on the Biblical Christian teaching on this issue, especially in the views of our young people. So here are a few helpful posts to help us keep thinking through the issue:
Five Questions for Christians Who Believe the Bible Supports Gay Marriage – Kevin DeYoung
Should We Support Gay Marriage? NO – Wolfhart Pannenberg
The Solemnization of Matrimony – Kevin DeYoung
There Is A Fountain – Verse 6
I didn’t preach this past weekend, so I don’t have a new sermon song this week. But a few weeks ago as I was working on the worship service, I wanted to include William Cowper’s hymn “There Is A Fountain.” It is a great hymn, but the last verse leaves us in the grave. What about the great hope of our resurrection? So I wrote a sixth verse. Below are Cowper’s original five verses and my final verse:
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, Lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.
Wash all my sins away, Wash all my sins away;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.
Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power
Till all the ransomed church of God
Be saved, to sin no more.
Be saved, to sin no more, Be saved, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed church of God
Be saved, to sin no more.
E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.
And shall be till I die, And shall be till I die;
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.
Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I’ll sing thy power to save,
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
Lies silent in the grave.
Lies silent in the grave, Lies silent in the grave;
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
Lies silent in the grave.
When Christ shall come with trumpet sound,
We’ll rise forevermore,
To sin and death no longer bound,
Our Savior we’ll adore.
Our Savior we’ll adore, Our Savior we’ll adore;
To sin and death no longer bound,
Our Savior we’ll adore.
Brian J. Mikul 