Passion Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Redeeming the Time in the Days of the Coronavirus – Brent Osterberg (CBCD)
So, let’s consider using this time to do some of the spiritually-enriching things that we frequently say we don’t have enough time for…and let’s pray that these habits stick after we return to more normal life. Consider the following as possibilities…

Everything’s Canceled! Dealing with Disappointment in Pandemic – Abbey Wedgeworth (TGC) It can be hard to know how to deal with personal disappointments, how to feel about our own feels in response to loss. But life in a fallen world is marked by suffering, great and small, and pandemics only highlight what has always been true.  Here are four places the Bible invites you to look as you suffer disappointment…

Come What May: Finding Patience and Joy in a Slow Calamity – David Mathis (DG)
In other words, though the supply lines should fail, and the shelves be bare, and the economy tank, and the virus come to our own city, and street, and even home, yet — even then — this newly humbled prophet will rejoice in the Lord. Will we? Not in our supplies. Not in our health. Not in our own security. Not even in the defeat of the enemy. There is one constant, one unassailable surety, one utter security, one haven for true joy in the most challenging of journeys: God himself. He holds himself out to us as he removes our other joys. Will we lean anew into him?

What Are You Afraid Of? – Michael Horton
As Nebuchadnezzar discovered, we recover our sanity when we lift our eyes to heaven. We’re back in line with reality.  We’re not in charge, and never have been.  We can’t create or save ourselves.  But we have been created and saved by God in Jesus Christ!  Now we can see the needs all around us, our own and those of our neighbors and the creation, as opportunities rather than threats.  We want to play our part in curbing the spread of the virus.  We are called to defend the life of our neighbors, especially the most vulnerable: the unborn, our aging elders, the poor, orphans, widows and all victims of injustice.  We are called to be good stewards of God’s creation.  But this is because we fear God rather than anyone or anything else. 

COVID-19: Living by Probabilities or Providence? – Mike Emlet (CCEF)
Nothing is by chance. Everything comes to us by our Father’s loving and wise hand. Don’t live in these trying times unduly focused on impersonal probabilities, statistics, and risk assessments. They will prove to be an unstable foundation for true hope and reassurance. By all means follow the guidance of your local health authorities, but first and foremost, look to your faithful and loving God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who holds you in the palm of his hand.

How Can We Be the Body When Physically Separated? – Erik Raymond
How can we be the body of Christ when physically separated? While being physically present substantially enhances our fellowship in the body of Christ, it is not the exclusive sphere of our togetherness. In other words, the bond together as a body is not primarily physical but spiritual. This means that we as Christians can still do good to one another, even when we are apart.  Here are five ways we can be the body of Christ, even when we are physically separated.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!

Passion Points

Here are some good posts to help us learn from and respond to the coronavirus situation:

10 Gifts I Pray God Gives The Church Through The Coronavirus – Orion Berridge (FTC)
Today, I am going to pray that these 10 things would happen and I am going to lead his church toward these things because I have fresh hope – a hope like I have never had before!

8 Things the Coronavirus Should Teach Us – Mark Oden (TGC)
The story of the Bible is the story of a God who entered a world infected with this virus. He lived among sick people, not wearing a chemical protective suit but breathing the same air as we do, eating the same food as we do. He died in isolation, excluded from his people, seemingly far from his Father on a cross—all that he might provide this sick world with an antidote to the virus, that he might heal us and give us eternal life.

10 Ways in which this Coronavirus Pandemic Can Be for Our Good – Brian Najapfour
So how can this coronavirus be for our good? Let me suggest ten ways in which this virus can be for our good.

How To Make the Most of Lockdown (Tips from Christians in Italy) – Clay Kannard
So, this is a new, once-in-a-lifetime (I hope) experience and we are learning as we go. What are some of the things we have learned in these past weeks since lockdown began?

9 Ways to Love Your Neighbor in This Pandemic – Justin Whitmel Earley (TGC)
One of the primary postures of a Christian is outward. Our salvation means that the curse of the inward curve of sin is broken, and we’re now free to turn outward—to love God and neighbor.

Hope you have a good Lord’s Day meeting online with your local church!

Passion Points

Everyone is thinking about the coronavirus, and it is important for us to think about it as Christians.  So here are some good posts toward that end:

The FAQs: Coronavirus Explained by an Infectious Disease Expert and Pastor – Miguel Nunez (TGC)
This is a good time for Christians to demonstrate sanity, peace, and hope, recognizing that our lives do not depend on the entry of a micro-organism into our bodies. Instead, it depends on the God who determines the beginning and the end of our history on earth.

Should Christians Be Anxious About the Coronavirus? – Todd Wagner (TGC)
Prayer-infused confidence, compassion, and selflessness should mark how we talk about the coronavirus. Why? Because our Savior put on flesh (John 1:14) and stepped into our sickness, sin, and death. He healed the sick and cared for the hurting. We must do likewise.

Anxiety, Waiting and the Coronavirus – Alasdair Groves (CCEF)
A virus is seeping across the world and has reached our shores, and we don’t know how treacherous it’s going to be. God is calling us to continue forward in love of neighbor and service to his kingdom, but all we can see are public surfaces potentially covered in germs and neighbors who may be walking vectors of disease.

Neighbor Love in the Era of COVID-19 – Kathryn Butler (TGC)
The question we should be asking ourselves, isn’t which supplies to stockpile in preparation for an apocalypse, but rather how to support those at real risk for losing their lives to this swiftly moving disease.

Dear Christian, When The Pandemic Hits, This Is Our Time – Akos Balogh  (TGC)
But whatever happens, dear Christian, know this: this is our time. God has raised us up for such a time as this. It’s no accident you’re here.  This is our time to think not about ourselves, but about our neighbours. Many of whom are scared, and will only grow more so as the virus spreads. This is our time to hold out the Word of Life to those around us—and give hope to those who are afraid, and are wondering what’s going to happen. This is our time to trust our God no matter what the future brings. For, unlike our secular neighbours, we know where our hope lies. We know where our security lies. We know where our future lies.

The Best Laid Plans – Matthew Hosier
The world we have created tends to make us very arrogant. We feel we are in control because of the general predictability of our systems and services. But really we are not. CV19 is humbling us.

Ten Things I’ve Loved about the Coronavirus Lockdown – Jonathan Whitman Coronavirus is scary.   Certainly a few important questions come to mind: When will it end?   Will we survive? How will we pay the bills? How will I survive the boredom of being stuck inside with nothing to do?  The good news is that God ordered Israel to stop often…not just once a week. There were good reasons for that. Here are a few tips I have come up with from my first week of lockdown.

You’re Not a Bad Pastor If You Cancel Services Over COVID-19 – Ronnie Martin (FTC)
In the end, you’re not a bad pastor if you cancel services over COVID-19. In this unique season, God will provide you with wisdom and faithfulness as you seek His face. Allow the assurance of Christ and the riches of his gospel to be the death of any guilt, anxiety, or fear that threatens to condemn you. Be reassured by His faithfulness, and rest well.

Love in the Time of Coronavirus: A Guide for Christian Leaders – Andy Crouch (Praxis)
The reason to alter our practices, especially the way we gather (see below), is not self-protection. For one thing, in the case of this particular virus, if individuals are young and healthy, infection may pose not much more threat than the ordinary seasonal flu. The change is needed because our vulnerable neighbors — those of any age with compromised immune systems, and those over 70 years old — are at grave risk. One of the basic axioms of the Christian life is that the “strong” must consider the “weak” (see Rom. 15). We are making these choices not to minimize our own risk, but to protect others from risk.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day celebrating our hope in the Lord!

Q&A14: All Sin

Q/A#14
Q: How many people perfectly keep God’s commandments?
A: No one perfectly keeps God commandments; none live morally upright, but all fail to love God and people.

As it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands; no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside;
together they have become worthless;
no one does good, not even one.”
– Romans 3:10-12 (ESV)

For Further Reflection
Matthew 22:37-40

Our Response
View ourselves with humility
Repent regularly of our sins

 

God’s Endorsement

FiftyReasonsThe wrath of God was satisfied with the suffering and death of Jesus. The holy curse against sin was fully absorbed. The obedience of Christ was completed to the fullest measure. The price of forgiveness was totally paid. The righteousness of God was completely vindicated. All that was left to accomplish was the public declaration of God’s endorsement. This he gave by raising Jesus from the dead.

– John Piper in Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die

Sermon Short: Justice to Victory

BiblePicture

Until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.
– Matthew 12:20b-21 (ESV)

When Jesus returns he will usher in a new day where justice reigns.  Not an enforced justice that would require constant fighting, but justice that will flow from each redeemed heart, so that all the world is filled with justice.

A world where there is no more injustice, no more oppression, no more abuse, no more mistreatment, and no more victims. But rather love towards each other, joy in one another, peace towards each other. A world where patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control towards all is an everyday continuous reality.

He will bring justice to victory.

No matter what injustice we may face today, we have a great hope for the future!