Tag: Discipleship

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

How Do I Know I’m a Christian? – Kevin DeYoung
Whenever counseling Christians looking for assurance of salvation, I take them to 1 John. This brief epistle is full of help for determining whether we are in the faith or not. In particular, there are three signs in 1 John given to us so we can answer the question “Do I have confidence or condemnation?”

It’s Not a Blind Faith – Tim Challies
Faith is trusting in someone who has the answers we lack. Faith is trusting in the goodness, in the character, of God.

The Heresy of Indifference – Burk Parsons (Ligonier)
When people tell me they are into Jesus but not into doctrine, I tell them that if they are not into doctrine, they are, in fact, not into Jesus. We cannot know Jesus without knowing doctrine, and we cannot love God without knowing God, and the way we know God is by studying His Word. Doctrine comes from God, it teaches us about God, and by faith it leads us back to God in worship, service, and love. Indifference to doctrine is indifference to God, and indifference to God is indifference to our own eternity. 

Four Ways To Fight the Fear of Missing Out – Jon Bloom
The Thing. It’s a strange thing, because it’s there and not there at the same time. What I’m talking about is The Thing that you don’t have that you think you need in order to be happy. And you know when The Thing is there because you begin to feel a low-grade panic that you don’t have it. The Thing makes you afraid that by not having The Thing you’re missing out.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!

Sermon Songs: Isaiah 56-57

On By BrianIn Isaiah Hymns

MusicNotes

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

Cling to our God and to His ways
Walk righteously all of your days
Turn from all greed and selfishness
All gluttony and laziness

In our world of idolatry
Wearied by its futility
Take refuge in our God above
And in Him find true peace and love

Our God is high, His name holy
He inhabits eternity
Dwells with the contrite and lowly
Revives our hearts and sets us free

– From a sermon on Isaiah 56:9-57:21
(To the tune of “The Doxology”)

Not Lone Rangers

On By BrianIn PASSION Quotes

Tabletalk2015-04God 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

Where God Dwells

On By BrianIn Book of Isaiah

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.

Sermon Songs: Isaiah 56

On By BrianIn Isaiah Hymns1 Comment

MusicNotes

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”)

Our Approach to the Bible

On By BrianIn PASSION Quotes

TakingGodSeriouslyThe 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