Tag: Discipleship

Where Is Your Heart?

On By BrianIn Book of Isaiah, Heart1 Comment

And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men….
– Isaiah 29:13 (ESV)

We see here a spiritual deadness. Judah was just going through the religious motions. They were just following the religious traditions. And the problem was not that the traditions were dead. The problem was them. The problem was their hearts.

Our church celebrates the Lord’s Supper once a month. We have a Worship Service every Sunday at 11 a.m. Those are traditions. The issue is not the traditions, but the heart of the people as they come.

So where is your heart? Why do you gather with your church? Why do you minister? Is it just a habit (albeit a good one)? Is it just a tradition (again a good one)? Are you just going through the religious motions? Or do you gather with your church and serve others out of heart for God? Does your heart beat to worship God and serve others for Him?

Where is your heart?

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Don’t Waste Your Twenties – Trevin Wax
Friends, if you are entering or still in your twenties, let me exhort you: do not sit these years out. Do not wait on the big job or the amazing ministry you think you deserve. Love God and love people now.

Apple Watch – Lev Grossman and Matt Vella (via Mike Wittmer)
I’m thinking all of this has something to do with idolatry, identity, and loving people:
The reality of living with an iPhone, or any smart, connected mobile device, is that it makes reality feel just that little bit less real. One gets overconnected, to the point where one is apt to pay attention to the thoughts and opinions of distant anonymous strangers over those of loved ones who are in the same room. One forgets how to be alone and undistracted. Ironically enough experiences don’t feel fully real till you’ve used your phone to make them virtual–tweeted them or tumbled them or Instagrammed them or YouTubed them–and the world has congratulated you for doing so.

The Spirit Is Willing But the Schedule Is Tight – Garrett Kell (TGC)
So if the Spirit is willing to set up divine appointments, how should we prepare to respond—even when our schedule is full? There are no magic answers, but here are a few things to prayerfully consider.

26 Ways to “Provoke the I Peter 3:15 Question” at Work – J.D. Greear
Peter is supposing that your life provokes that question—that people are asking, “Why do you do what you do?”  Here is a list of 26 ways…

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!

Sermon Songs: Isaiah 28

On By BrianIn Isaiah Hymns1 Comment

He is our sure foundation, our crown of glory
He is our satisfaction, our wreath of beauty
A rest for the weary, a peaceful repose
From our strivings, our wantings, our fears, and our foes

He’s our stone of salvation, our security
Though mere mortals will fail us, our Helper is He
He’s our source of wisdom, upon which we stand
Firm upon our foundation, held safe in His hand

– From a sermon on Isaiah 28
(To the tune “How Firm A Foundation”)

What Will We Build Our Lives On?

On By BrianIn Book of Isaiah1 Comment

Isaiah 28 raises an important question: What will we build our lives on? Will we build our lives on the shifting sands of self and the ways of our world, or on the sure foundation of God? He is our sure foundation in at least four ways:

He is our crown of glory (v1-6). The Northern Kingdom was building their lives on the glory of man. They were living for themselves, for pleasure, for beauty, for riches. Sounds much like today. But all those things will be cast down, trampled on, swallowed up. In contrast, the remnant will find the Lord of Hosts to be their crown of glory. God is truly glorious, and his glory will never fade away. And he makes us glorious as we become his people and build our lives on Him. So will you seek glory in yourself and the world or in our glorious God? He is our sure foundation. So seek him.

He is our rest for the weary (v7-13). God offered rest to Judah, but they would not listen. They sought their rest in drinking. And so it is today. Many seek their rest in alcohol, food, pleasure, entertainment, drugs, any place but God. But these are only distractions – they can’t provide true rest for the weary. So come to the Lord, and he will provide rest for your soul. He is a rest from the futile chasing after the things of the world because he is our glory, our satisfaction. He is a rest in the midst of the fears and trials of life because he is bigger and stronger. What is your fear? What trials are you facing? He invites you to rest in Him. He is our sure foundation. So rest in Him.

He is our stone of security (v14-22). Judah sought security from Assyria through an alliance with Egypt. But it was a covenant of death, a refuge of lies. Egypt was a bed too small to rest in, a blanket too small to comfort. Egypt could not provide security against Assyria. Still today people seek security in all the wrong places. They look for security in their wealth, their success, their job, their friends, their government. But like Egypt, all of these things can fail. Only God is big enough, powerful enough, to provide true security. Where Egypt failed, God succeeded. He is the one we should put our faith in. He is our sure foundation. So trust in Him.

Finally, he is our source of wisdom (v23-29). The farmer knows how to plow, sow, and harvest because God gives him wisdom. The Lord is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom. And so we ought to listen to Him. But many other voices are chattering in our culture calling us to reject God, do our own thing, and find wisdom in ourselves. And many people follow these other voices to their own destruction. But God is the source of wisdom. He is our sure foundation. So listen to him.

God is our sure foundation so look to Him.

Passion Points

On By BrianIn Idolatry, PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Gospel Ripples – Jeremy Walker (Reformation 21)
Here are reasons why the saints need to go on hearing the gospel. It brings back to our hearts and minds the truths of our salvation, stirring us up to love and prompting us to serve. It emphasizes spiritual realities, the enduring facts of man’s sin and God’s grace, of heaven and hell and the sacrificial Lamb who stands between them. It reminds us of life and of death. It reinforces and freshly adorns our convictions. It prepares us to make Christ known.

Preaching the Gospel To Yourself – Tim Challies
Why don’t you make it part of your practice, and see the difference it makes to begin each day reminding yourself of who you were, and who you now are in Christ.

Three Questions To Help Diagnose Possible Football Idolatry – Kevin DeYoung
Wherever there is a consuming passion for anything that is not God there is the danger of idolatry. And football is certainly a consuming passion for many in this country. So what are some of the signs that football has grown to idolatrous proportions in the heart of the Christian?

Becoming Christ-like: The Goal of the Christian Life? – Daniel Wallace
If my goal is for me to become Christ-like, then my goal is inevitably and necessarily self-centered. How well am I doing at this goal? What do I look like as a Christian? My goal had become my role, and the focus had become too inward.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day celebrating our glorious and gracious God with your local church!

Refocus

On By BrianIn All About Love1 Comment

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
– Matthew 22:37-40 (ESV)

Love God and love people. This is the sum of the Old Testament. This is what God expects of us, what he calls us to do. This is what life is all about. But it is so easy to get distracted, and we need to regularly refocus.

Life is not about amassing wealth. It is not about consuming. It is not about power or control. It is not about fame or popularity. It is not about comfort or ease. It is not about pleasure. It is not about defining ourselves, but rather denying ourselves to love God and people.

Life is not even about the myriad of things we do on any given day. Not that those things are necessarily wrong, but they are only the settings in which we are to love. They are the contexts of love. In our families and friendships, at our job or school, in our recreation or sports – these are all contexts for us to express our love for God and our love for people. Love is central.

And so we need to regularly refocus. We need to ask questions: How can I show love to God today in my family, my job, my school, my play, my church? How can I show love today to my spouse, my children, my co-workers, my classmates, my neighbors?

And we need to constantly be looking for opportunities to love throughout the day – in our daily routines and in the interruptions to our routines.

We need to refocus on what is really important: loving God and loving people. May God help us to grow in this love this week.

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

9 Questions to Help You Steward All Of Your Life For God’s Glory – Brad Hambrick
Life is not primarily about what we avoid, but what we pursue.

“All the Law and the Prophets…” in a Piece of Fruit – Jared Totten
Or to say it another way, if you keep this one rule (love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength) then by default you will have kept all the other rules as well…including that one way back in the garden. Yes, the one about the fruit….

Never Resist the Urge to Pray – Erik Raymond
Let us be a people who never, ever, resist the urge to pray. After all, we know the urge is from God, to be used by God, [in] accordance with his commands for our good.

Why Does God Let Me Stay So Weak – Mark Altrogge
To be content with weakness doesn’t mean we give up trying to put sin to death. It doesn’t mean we quit trying to bear fruit for God. But it means that when we fail, when we realize how weak we are, we won’t despair but turn to Christ and ask him to give us HIS power. HIS strength. HIS wisdom. HIS grace.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with the Lord and his church!

Tinkering with the Church

On By BrianIn PASSION Quotes1 Comment

GodInTheWastelandIt is one of the remarkable features of contemporary church life that so many are attempting to heal the church by tinkering with its structures, its services, its public face. This is clear evidence that modernity has successfully palmed off one of its great deceits on us, convincing us that God himself is secondary to organization and image, that the church’s health lies in its flow charts, its convenience, and its offerings rather than in its inner life, its spiritual authenticity, the toughness of its moral intentions, its understanding of what it means to have God’s Word in this world.

– David Wells in God in the Wasteland