Tag: Christianity

God’s Heart For Us

On By BrianIn God & His Glory, Heart2 Comments

This past Sunday I preached about God’s heart for us.  We looked at Ephesians 2:4-5 which says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved.”  Three words describe God’s heart for us:

Mercy – We deserve judgment and wrath and condemnation because of our sins, but God gives us mercy.  We who were dead, helpless, unworthy rebels have received mercy from almighty God.  And his mercy isn’t stingy or small, but overflowing – God is “rich in mercy.”

Love – How do we account for his mercy?  The answer is his great love.  And how did God show his love?  He showed it by sending his Son for our salvation (John 3:16).  Jesus showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners, he suffered and died for us (Romans 5:8).  We didn’t deserve it, but Jesus did it.  He died that we who were dead might have a new life.  That is great love!

Grace – God saves us by his grace – his free undeserved favor.  It is free – you can’t buy it or work for it.  It is undeserved – you can never earn it or do enough good things to merit it.  And it is this  grace alone that saves us. Without his grace we are dead.  By his grace we are made alive.

Mercy.  Love.  Grace.  This is God’s heart for us.  And this is our salvation!

Why Don’t We Talk About Jesus?

On By BrianIn Heart, Revival2 Comments

In my last two posts, I wrote about using every context of our lives to talk about Jesus – to encourage other believers and to share the good news with those who are dead in their sins.  My question here is – why don’t we do this more?

Why is it that we talk about Jesus in Sunday School and the Worship Service, but before, between, and after we talk about everything else but Jesus.  Why don’t we talk about what we heard from God’s Word just minutes before.  Why is my Facebook account filled with “friends” who are Christians but who rarely if ever mention Christ?  Why is it that we don’t talk more about Jesus?

Let me be clear – I’m not judging anyone – because I am guilty of this too.  I’m just wondering why we are so slow to talk about Jesus.  Could it be that we don’t talk about Jesus much because we don’t think about him much?  Or maybe we are afraid to mention his name?  Or are we so distracted by the things of this world that other things take our focus and hence we talk about those things?

If Jesus is most important in our lives, wouldn’t we be talking about him?

Christian Encouragement In New Contexts

On By BrianIn Revival

In my last post, I talked about using new contexts like Facebook – and indeed all contexts – as opportunities to share Christ with others.  Here I want to suggest that we should also use new contexts – indeed all contexts – as opportunities to encourage one another in our faith – to spur each other on to love and good deeds.

This of course is the purpose of this blog.  And Facebook gives us another wonderful opportunity to encourage other Christians.  Rather than writing mindless comments on our “walls”, we can write things designed to encourage other Christians.  We can apply Paul’s words about our speech to our writing –

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” – Ephesians 4:29

Most recently, I have been writing a verse on my “wall” each day.  Our church is reading through the Old Testament, so I put a verse on my “wall” that is part of the daily reading.  Of course all my other “friends” see the verse too.  Other ideas are to just write about what Christ is doing in your life, something Christ is teaching you, something you have been thinking about related to Christ, a meaningful point from Sunday’s sermon, an answered prayer request, something you want to praise God for….  The possibilities are as endless.

Of course as we write these things, we can not only encourage other Christians, but we are sharing Christ – and what he means to us – with any non-Christian “friends” we have.  We just need to write about Christ in our lives and we will be encouraging Christians and telling non-Christians about Jesus at the same time.

And then let’s take this idea into the other contexts of our lives.  Talk, write, and e-mail about Jesus.  Use every opportunity to build up our brothers and sisters in Christ – and share Christ with others – for the glory of God!

Old-fashioned Commitment in New Contexts

On By BrianIn Revival

John Piper’s last chapter in his book Finally Alive begins this way:

“We’re ending this book on the ground.  On the street.  In the car.  At Starbucks.  In the back yard.  In school.  At work.  Over lunch.  On the phone.  On Facebook and MySpace.  And text messaging.  And Skyping.  And blogging.  And airplanes.  And a hundred ordinary conversations.  We’re ending with personal evangelism – an old-fashioned commitment in new contexts for the sake of the new birth in thousands of spiritually dead people for the glory of Jesus Christ.”

That phrase – “old-fashioned commitment in new contexts” caught my eye,  as did some of his examples – like blogging and Facebook.  It is a call to use today’s social and technological contexts for sharing the gospel.

I just started using Facebook about a month ago.  It is a great way to connect with people…and a great way to waste your life.  Many of the comments are trivial, even mindless.  Words, words, and more words with little significance.  But couldn’t we use it to share important thoughts and ideas?  To share what Christ means to us?  To fill the “walls” of our “friends” with Jesus?  Lovingly – not in your face.  Naturally – flowing out of who we are in Christ. Facebook is all about sharing what we are doing and thinking – so let’s share about what we are thinking and doing that relates to Christ.

And that is only one context.  How might we use every context we have as an opportunity to share about Christ?  I don’t usually think this way, but I need to!  I need to think about how I might use every situation to share Christ with others.

What if we filled our conversations and blogs and e-mails and phone calls and “walls” and towns with Jesus – “for the sake of the new birth in thousands of spiritually dead people for the glory of Jesus Christ”?

Fill your town with Jesus

On By BrianIn Revival2 Comments

I just finished reading John Piper’s solid book about being born again called Finally Alive.  In his last chapter, he applies the doctrine by calling us to do our part to lead people to Jesus that they might be born again.  He writes:

When the apostles were put on trial in Jerusalem, the hight priest said, “You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching” (Acts 5:28).  That is what I dream for the churchs of my city.  If all the Christians were talking about Christ, and giving out literature about Christ, and sending e-mails about Christ, and inviting people to church for Christ, and being lavishly generous to others for Christ, then someone might say, “Those Christians have filled the city with their teaching.”  May it be so.

Do we dream of filling our towns with Jesus?  How might we do it?  What are we waiting for?

New Heart

On By BrianIn Heart

How can we have a heart for God?  On our own we can’t.  Everyone is born apart from God, dead in their sins, with cold, hard, rebellious, unresponsive hearts.  We follow the sinful ways of our world, the temptations of the devil, and our own sinful desires.  We stand under the judgment of a holy God.  That is the conclusion of Ephesians 2:1-3.  We are dead.

But v4 begins with two glorious words – “But God.”  On our own we are dead…but God!  God, rich in mercy, with great love, and immeasurable grace, makes us alive in Christ.  He does for us what we can’t do for ourselves. As God powerfully raised Jesus physically from the dead, so God powerfully raised us spiritually from the dead.  Other pictures in Scripture for this miracle of being made alive are: born again, new creation, new heart.  God makes us alive and new by giving us a new heart.  And all of it comes by faith alone apart from works.

And yet the works follow.  Once we are made alive with new hearts, we no longer want to live as we did before in sin.  We have new hearts.  Now we want to live for God, doing the good works he gives us opportunities to do.

Have you received this new life?

If so, let us live the new life he has given us!

Last Poem

On By BrianIn Biography/History1 Comment

Charles Wesley wrote over 9000 hymns and sacred poems in his lifetime.  His last a few days before he died was this:

In age and feebleness extreme,
Who shall a sinful worm redeem?
Jesus, my only hope Thou art,
Strength of my failing flesh and heart;
O could I catch a smile from Thee,
And drop into eternity!

May we have that same hope when our turn comes!

Together For The Gospel

On By BrianIn Biography/History, Revival

Just finished reading biographies about George Whitefield, Charles Wesley, and John Wesley – the three leaders of the Great Awakening in England.  I confess I was most interested in Whirefield as I am more at home with his theology.  The Wesleys were interesting when they weren’t railing against the Biblical doctrine of predestination or pushing their unBiblical view of Christian perfection.  Okay that was strong – but that was Whitefield’s view.  Of course, the Wesleys thought Whitefield’s views were unBiblical.  And yet, for most of their lives, they were friends.

They met and became friends at school before any of them were saved or famous.  After they were born again, they ministered together preaching the gospel around England (and beyond).  But then, despite Whitefield’s plea, John began preaching against and writing against predestination.  Whitefield felt he had no choice but to respond and defend the doctrine.  The cord of three was broken.  But over time they came together again.  The gospel was central in each of their lives and it was around this that they came together.  They agreed to disagree on the other issues – the main thing was the gospel.  Indeed at the end they were preaching for each other again.  When George Whitefield died, John Wesley led the service in England.  Charles Wesley wrote a long poem about his friend.  In particulars they differed, but they were friends in the gospel.

Which brings us to today.  Calvinism is on the rise – and I praise God for it.  Yet it is often antagonistic toward non-Calvinists.  On the other side is a responding antagonism against Calvinism.  Can we agree to disagree?  Can we come together around the gospel like Whitefield and the Wesleys?  Can we keep the main thing the main thing?  Whitefield didn’t want Wesley to publish against predestination because he didn’t want to divide the church and hurt the revival that was going on.  For the sake of the church, and the hope of revival, can we keep the gospel central and rally around it?

We have much to learn from these men.  For further reading, check out these biographies that I just read:

George Whitefield – Arnold Dallimore (I read the one volume edition, there is also a much more complete two volume edition)

George Whitefield and the Great Awakening – John Pollock

Assist Me To Proclaim: Life and Hymns of Charles Wesley – John Tyson

John Wesley – Stephen Tomkins

Your Will Be Done

On By BrianIn Habit of Prayer, Heart, Revival1 Comment

The third request in the Lord’s Prayer is “your will be done.”  What does this mean?  First, we are praying for God’s moral will to be done, that his commands would be obeyed.  We want God to help us do his will.  Second, we are praying for God’s providential will to be done.  We are expressing our trust in God’s plan for our lives as Jesus did in the garden before the cross.

Do our prayers look like this?  Is this our heart’s desire?

Your Kingdom Come

On By BrianIn Habit of Prayer, Heart, Revival

The second request in the Lord’s Prayer is “Your kingdom come.”  What does this mean?  First, we are praying for Christ’s return, when his kingdom will come in it’s final fulfillment.  Second, we are praying for people to come to Christ, when the king comes into their lives and they enter the kingdom.  Third, we are praying for God’s people to submit to their king, when they act like true subjects of the kingdom.  The question is, do we really want these things?

Do we long for Christ to return?  Do we long for people to be saved?  Do we long to live for Christ?  Does these desires affect our lives?

Again, our prayers reveal our hearts.  What do our prayers reveal?  Are we crying out for Christ to return?  Are we crying out to God for our lost loved ones, co-workers, neighbors, communities?  Are we crying out to God for his grace to help us live for our king?  Do we pray like this?  Is this our heart’s desire?

O Lord, change our hearts more and more that our desires and prayers might be focused on your kingdom!