Being Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d pass on some helpful links on love and marriage:
Love: Paul David Tripp unpacks what love really looks like. Do we love people like this?
Marriage: Tripp discusses the important place of worship in marriage. Gary and Betsy Ricucci show the difference between pride and humility in marriage, and consider how the gospel changes our marriages.
A few good posts on the grace and evangelism for your weekend reading:
Grace: A good illustration from Tullian Tchividjian reminds us that we are saved by God’s grace and not by works. And then, a quote from Jerry Bridges calls us to remember God’s transforming grace in our daily lives.
Evangelism: Four pointers for evangelism from J. Mack Stiles. And then, Mark Altrogge clears up a common misunderstanding that predestination and evangelism don’t go together.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with God and his people!
Next week, we will look at the single life….
Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
– Exodus 24:15-16
Moses goes up on the mountain.
For six days he is surrounded by God’s glory.
No instructions. No commands. No activities.
Just dwelling in God’s presence.
How much we need this!
To slow down. Stop rushing.
Just rest in God’s presence.
Each morning is an opportunity.
To commune with God.
To be still before him.
In awe of his glory.
Yet too often I let the activities of the day crowd in.
My focus is lost in a gigantic to-do-list.
My communion is interupted by an array of projects.
And I need to push them back.
There will be time enough for those things later.
I need to first rest in his presence.
I suspect Moses needed 6 days to just sit in awe.
Before he knew the plan, he needed to know the Planner.
I suspect the same is true for us.
But I’m in a hurry.
I have lots to do.
I don’t want to wait.
I can’t imagine six days!
I want to get busy for God now.
But no – first be still in his presence.
Know him. Know his glory. Sit in awe.
Then we will be ready to hear him speak.
Then we will be ready to listen.
Then we will be ready to obey.
But first we must be still before him.
Thought I would pass on an outreach resource for this coming Easter. Two years ago, Crossway put together Christmas packets that included a New Testament, tract, customizable invitation, and bag. Our church used them this past Christmas, adding some home made cookies and going through our small town caroling. We also encouraged church families to deliver them to their neighbors or co-workers.
Crossway now has Easter packets with the same components plus an audio New Testament CD. Our church is planning to hand them out to neighbors around the church, as well as to families that come to our annual kids Easter Egg Hunt. If you are interested, you can find out more info here.
This weekend’s recommended posts all relate to the church.
First, a helpful reminder of what the church is. It is a Bride, a Building, and a Body.
Our approach to gathering as a church on Sunday will make a big difference. Tullian Tchividjian gives us a prayer of preparation. Meanwhile Joshua Harris encourages us to come eager, expectant, and early. Tim Challies gives us ideas for before the service, during the service, and after the service. And if you must come grumpy (which you shouldn’t!), Chris Brauns reminds you not to spit in everyone else’s Sunday Dinner (of the Word)!
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!
The King James Version of the Bible turns 400 this year. It has had a huge impact on the English language and the English world. It has also had a large impact on many newer English translations including the New King James Version, the New American Standard Bible, and the English Standard Version. Want to learn more? You can sign up to receive a free copy of Christian History magazine’s upcoming issue on the KJV. I’m looking forward to reading it. Deadline to reserve your free copy is February 14.
I am “friends” with John Piper and Desiring God on Facebook, and I get a steady stream of short quotes that are well worth sharing. If you are on FB and want to “friend” these two pages, see links below. Either way, here are some good quotes to ponder:
About God
John Piper: The purpose of the knowledge of God is the enjoyment of God.
J.I. Packer: What is the eternal life that Jesus gives? Knowledge of God.
Robert Murray M’Cheyne: Live near to God, and all things will appear little to you in comparison with eternal realities.
About Creation
DA Carson: God made everything that is non-God. This introduces an irreducible distinction between Creator and creature.
DA Carson: The first responsibility of human beings is to acknowledge our creatureliness.
Thomas Manton: If we could make ourselves, then we could live for ourselves.
Links:
On Sunday, I finished a three week sermon series going through the theme: New Life. Loving God. Loving People. It is a sort of slogan for our church, with each phrase further defined on our church website and in our church brochure. The goal was to define what our church was all about (living in response to the gospel) in everyday language that might connect with people. You can judge how well we achieved our goal (feel free to leave your comments). As may be obvious, it is directly related to the Three Passions theme of this blog. Here is the entire thing as it appears on our site and brochure:
New Life
We all need new life:
Forgiveness for the past.
Power to live differently today.
Hope for the future.
We have found this new life in Jesus.
Loving God
As we find new life in Jesus, we enter into a loving relationship with God.
Our joy is to grow in this incredible relationship by spending time with him.
Our delight is to live each day for him.
Loving People
Our loving relationship with God helps us grow in our love for people.
We begin to love our families more.
We seek to be a loving church family that cares for one another.
We want to serve our community
and share this new life we have found with others.
Joseph has been rotting in an Egyptian prison for months. One day he is unexpectantly summoned to appear before Pharaoh. It seems Pharaoh has had some dreams that no one can interpret. But the cupbearer remembered that Joseph had interpretted his dream two years earlier, and so the cupbearer tells Pharaoh. So Joseph is summoned. Pharaoh tells Joseph, “I hear you can interpret dreams.”
“So I hear that you are a good plumber.” “I was told you are really good at golf.” “I heard you are a great cook.” “That was a great presentation.” Someone comes up to you with praise for whatever ability you have. How do you respond?
Joseph responds to Pharaoh, “It is not in me; but God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.” On my own I can’t interpret your dream, but God can. Interpretting dreams isn’t my ability; it comes from God. It’s not about me; it is about him.
How do we respond to praise? Do we point others to God? I confess I often just say “thank you.” They gave me a complement, and I appreciate it. It seems somewhat awkward to constantly in effect say – “it’s not me – it’s God.” Does that belittle their complement? Or look at it from the other side. If I should always deflect the praise from myself to God, maybe I shouldn’t complement others because it really isn’t about them anyways. But shouldn’t we encourage each other and express gratitude toward those who minister in some way to us? Of course we should! So then maybe a simple “thank you” is a good answer after all.
But maybe there is a better. Maybe we can both accept the complement with appreciation, and also express praise to God who gave us the ability. Maybe the one giving the complement can phrase it as both appreciation for the person and praise to God. Maybe instead of saying, “Thank you for…,” we should say, “I appreciate the way God used you in….” And maybe our response should be, “Thank you. I praise the Lord that he used me to minister to you.” And if it seems awkward, maybe it is simply because we aren’t used to doing it.
In the end, maybe complementing each other is an opportunity not only to encourage and express (and receive) gratitude, but an opportunity to help all of us lift our eyes to the one who is truly worthy of praise.
Here are some suggested posts for your pondering pleasure this weekend:
First, some good posts on prayer. Stephen Altrogge encourages us to not lose our intensity in prayer, while Mark Altrogge encourages us to pray expectantly. Meanwhile my friend Mike at Hunger and Thirst has a great post on how trusting God’s promises needs to impact our prayers. And Trevin Wax fleshes out the Lord’s Prayer with related Scriptures.
Meanwhile, on other topics:
Finally, the quote of the week comes from J.I. Packer via Justin Taylor addressing our lack of focus on communion with God. Read this quote – and let it impact your life!
