We recognize our Savior Lord
Who died, now lives today
Our debt is paid, our hope restored
Our sins are washed away
Gripped by the gospel now we live
Pouring persistent prayer
We humbly hear, gratefully give
Rejoicing in His care
– From a sermon on the characteristics of a godly woman
(To the tune of “O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing”)
Compassion for People
Learn to do good;
seek justice, correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.
– Isaiah 1:17 (ESV)
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
Whom Shall You Fear – Kevin DeYoung
For if the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, the fear of man is the beginning of misery, compromise, and disappointment.
4 Ways To Find God’s Grace in Our Failures – Joe Thorn
If you haven’t figured it out yet let me encourage you to see something that will greatly help you. Not all of your ideas are good. Some of them are bad. And God will often let you flail and fail out there for very good purposes. And when you fail do not lose the opportunity to find grace in the midst of it.
9 Things You Should Know About Prayer in the Bible – Joe Carter (GC)
4. The Bible records Jesus praying 25 different times during his earthly ministry.
A Spiritual Family Tree – Jason Helopoulos
I’m interested in your spiritual family tree. From where did you come spiritually? Who shared the faith with you? And who shared the faith with them? If you are a believer, you are in a long line dating all the way back to Abraham. But even more importantly, what does your spiritual family tree look like going forward? What growth is budding off of your branch?
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshiping the Lord with your local church!
The fundamental problem in the evangelical world today
is that God rests too inconsequentially upon the church.
His truth is too distant, his grace is too ordinary,
his judgment is too benign, his gospel is too easy,
and his Christ is too common.
– David Wells in God in the Wasteland
Here are some posts I have been collecting on sexual purity:
F.L.E.E. – A Strategy for Purity – Trent Hunter (GC)
What’s your plan for the next encounter with temptation? Or for the next conversation with a friend, child, or spouse who needs your counsel? Here’s a strategy: F.L.E.E. It’s biblical, it’s hard to forget, and it fits on a napkin.
How Far Is Too Far: Part One, Part Two, Part Three – Crossway
Adapted from Sex, Dating, and Relationships by Gerald Hiestand and Jay Thomas
Very interesting and helpful approach. Tim Challies offers another summary.
Sex As A Commitment Apparatus – Tim Keller via Kevin DeYoung
The Bible does not counsel sexual abstinence before marriage because it has such a low view of sex but because it has such a lofty one. The Biblical view implies that sex outside of marriage is not just morally wrong but also personally harmful. If sex is designed to be part of making a covenant and experiencing that covenant’s renewal, then we should think of sex as an emotional “commitment apparatus.”
Last Thursday was the National Day of Prayer. It would I suppose be easy to move on to the next thing, but certainly we need to continue to pray for our nation. Below is part of the prayer guide my church used for its prayer service last week. Each point is taken from Isaiah (which we have been studying) where there are obvious similarities between Israel and our own country.
Sin, Corruption, and Turning from God – Isaiah 1:4, 3:8-9
Pray for repentance and lives transformed by Jesus
Idolatry – Isaiah 2:8, 18
Pray for a recognition and rejection of idols, and a turning to the one true God
Injustice – Isaiah 3:14-15, 5:8, 5:23, 10:1-2
Pray for justice for the weak, poor, unborn, victims of crime
Pray for the economy, businesses, jobs, and struggling families
Proud Self-Centeredness – Isaiah 3:16, 5:21, 9:9-10, 2:17
Pray for a growing humility and love for others
Pray for leaders/stars in sports, music, movies, etc.
Drunkenness – Isaiah 5:11-12, 5:22
Pray for those caught in addictions to find freedom in Jesus
Twisting Morality – Isaiah 5:20
Pray for those caught in the lies of our culture – to be set free by the truth
Fear and dis-ease– Isaiah 7:2
Pray for those caught in fear, worry, and stress – to find rest in the Lord
Division, Hatred, and Violence – Isaiah 9:18-20
Pray for civility in politics and commitment to common good
Pray for love for others regardless of race, etc.
Pray for our police and court systems
Pray for strong families, and the casualties of broken families
The Lord of Hosts – he reigns as King
He topples human pride
We rest in Him under His wings
In Christ the crucified
– From a sermon on Isaiah 10:5-34
(To the tune of “O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing”)
Our Passion for God
O God, you are my God;
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
– Psalm 63:1 (ESV)
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
Repentance Doesn’t Hem and Haw – Jared Wilson
So this is repentance. No excuses, no yes-buts, no waffling. Not hemming and hawing but an about-face and a cutting to the chase.
Lessons Learned in the School of Suffering – Darryl Dash
The Psalms and other writings became real to me in new ways. My prayer life was deepened even as my prayers contained fewer words. The consolation from knowing that Jesus was no stranger to suffering became even more precious.
My Wife Has Tattoos: Marriage and New Birth – Spencer Harmon (GC)
But everything changes when people meet Jesus. He takes rebellious teenage partiers and goody-two-shoes homeschoolers and puts them together in marriage to put something on display much bigger than their own handcrafted, perfectly planned love story.
The Proper Response to Easter – Jared Wilson
The proper response to Easter is not warm fuzzies, but awe.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with your local church celebrating our great Savior and Shepherd!
Brian J. Mikul 