God saves us as individuals – I cannot count on anyone else’s faith in order to be redeemed. However, the Lord redeems us to put us in community. This happens preeminently in the church, where God provides the fellowship that we need in order to grow and thrive. We cannot be lone rangers and expect that our faith will thrive. Are you seeking to build community in your church? Are you making time regularly to fellowship with the Lord’s servants?
– From the April 2015 issue of Tabletalk
Here are some good posts on preaching:
How Long Should A Sermon Be – Brian Biedebach (Preachers & Preaching)
The message must last long enough for the text to be rightly explained and the practical implications properly developed….
Why Sermons Often Bore – Gavin Ortlund (TGC)
…how to preach to the heart, and through the heart to the whole person.
Top 500 Preaching Resources – David Murray
A treasure trove of opportunities to grow in our preaching!
There is nothing in the ordinary course of nature, throughout the whole frame of heaven and earth, which does not invite us to the contemplation of God.
– John Calvin
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
– Isaiah 57:15 (ESV)
God is high and holy, so it should not surprise us that he dwells in a high and holy place. What should absolutely amaze us is that he would dwell with people – with those who are contrite and lowly.
To be lowly is to see ourselves in a right relationship to God. He is high and we are low. He is eternal and we are temporal. He is holy and we are not. Being lowly is not thinking we are garbage – we are image-bearers of God! Being lowly simply means that we see things as they are – God is greater than I am, and so life is about him and not me.
To be contrite is to be crushed or undone by our sins. It means that our sins against God that led him to the cross move us to weep. We cry out with Isaiah, “Woe is me!” (Isaiah 6).
And when we humble ourselves before the Lord, humbly confessing our sins and looking to him for salvation, he moves into our lives. The Holy Spirit makes us his home. We become temples of the living God. God dwells with us. What a wonderful thing that God would dwell with us!
And as God dwells with us – he revives our spirits, he revives our hearts. He gives us life – new life. He gives us significance as his presence exalts us. He gives us salvation from our sins as his Spirit applies the work of Jesus to our lives. When we come with contrite and lowly hearts, he exalts us and saves us – as he comes to dwell within us.
A number of people have already found it, but here is a link to a Prayer Guide from last year to help us pray today…and indeed on other days too.
– Donald Whitney
Our Lord, He died and rose for you
To give you hope and make you new
So dare to be diff’rent today
In what you think, you do, and say
Pursue justice, live righteously
Make worship a priority
Hold fast your faith, please God always
Serve and love Him for all your days
So as God’s people let us live
Enjoy the blessings He does give:
Significance and joyful prayer
Life with God is without compare
– From a sermon on Isaiah 56:1-8
(To the tune of “The Doxology”)
Here are some good posts about the Word in our corporate worship:
The Benefits of Sitting Under Expository Preaching – Eric Davis (Cripplegate)
The Wonder of the Word in Corporate Worship – Matt Boswell (DG)
3 big ideas and 7 tips on how to read the Bible in church – Matthias Media
The Bible is to be approached with reverence, handled with care and prayer, and studied, not to satisfy curiosity in any of its forms, but to deepen responsive fellowship with God who made us, loves us, seeks us out, and offers us pardon, peace, and power for righteousness through Jesus Christ our Lord.
– J. I. Packer in Taking God Seriously
I will give in my house and within my walls
a monument and a name better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
– Isaiah 56:5 (ESV)
God is speaking in this verse to eunuchs who would never have children. In Israel, it was important to have children to continue the family line. To be single and never have children was a tragedy, to be a failure. But God says he will give them an everlasting name better than children. He will give them everlasting significance apart from family.
Mark this. A spouse can never give you lasting significance. If you look for your significance in your spouse, you will destroy your marriage. Your spouse was never designed to give you significance, to satisfy your soul. Only God can give you lasting significance.
Your children can never give you lasting significance either. If you look for significance in your children, you will destroy your children. And when they leave home, your sense of significance will walk right out the door with them. Only God can give you lasting significance.
Everyone is searching for significance. You may be seeking it in family, or achievements, or recognition, or fame, or power. Many today seek significance in Facebook – how many friends do you have, how many people liked your last status? People try to recreate themselves in their own image striving for significance. But only God can give you lasting significance.
Don’t seek lasting significance in the temporary. Only an eternal God can give you lasting significance. He gives us an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
Brian J. Mikul 