Being Enthralled With Jesus Christ

Last Sunday I encouraged believers in Christ to join the apostle Paul in being enthralled with Him!  Love HIm!  Treasure Him!  How can we do this?  How can we stir this up in ourselves and one another?

I spoke of several ways to do this and one of them is reading (and meditating) about Jesus-- the Scriptures (especially the gospels) and great books about Him (such as Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ).  

Let me illustrate what I mean using this excerpt from Martin Luther's sermon on John 1, "Behold the Lamb of God":

"It would be spectacular and amazing, prompting all the world to open its ears and eyes, mouth and nose to uncomprehending wonderment, if some king's son were to appear in a beggar's home to nurse him in his illness, wash off his filth, and do everything else the beggar would have to do.  Would this not be profound humility?  Any spectator or any beneficiary of this honor would feel impelled to admit that he had seen or experienced something unusual and extraordinary, something magnificent.

But what is a king or an emperor compared with the Son of God?  Furthermore, what is a beggar's filth or stench compared with the filth of sin which is ours by nature, stinking a hundred times worse and looking infinitely more repulsive to God than any foul matter found in a hospital?

And yet the love of the Son of God for us is of such magnitude that the greater the filth and stench of our sins, the more He befriends us.  For how amazing it is that the Son of God becomes my servant, that He humbles Himself so, that he cumbers Himself with my misery and sin...He says to me: 'You are no longer a sinner, but I am;  I am your substitute.  You have not sinned, but I have.  The entire world is in sin.  However, you are not in sin; but I am.  All your sins are to rest on Me and not on you.

No one can comprehend this.  In yonder life our eyes will feast forever on this love of God."

Jesus Reveals the Father

From my reading in Matthew 11 this morning:

"At that time Jesus declared, 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.  All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.'" (verses 35-37)

What a passage!  We look into the fellowship of the Father and Son; we witness God's sovereignty in revealing Truth to people; we see His heart for children and the child-like; we see the greatness of grace to God's own, who share with Jesus in the knowledge of His Father; we ponder the Son's revelation of His Father.

How shall I respond?  

* By humbly bowing before the Lord and joining Jesus Christ in expressing gratitude to the Father for His sovereign grace and will.

* By gladly celebrating the unity, love, and glory of the Father and Son, and the Son's knowledge of His Father.

* By gladly wondering at (not doubting) the choosing mercy and grace of the Son to reveal the Father to many.

* By thanking God for His gift of repentance (see 11:20-24) to me.

* By pleading with the Lord to reveal His Father to others, including through me as I speak the truth of Jesus' words in Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Dear Rocky family, let us earnestly pray that the Savior's gracious, saving choice would settle on many as we share His gospel with others call them to "come to" Him-- at home, at work, in shops and restaurants, at school, in hospitals, in battle zones, mission fields, everywhere. 

 

Sermons and Weeping

Here is a quote from Charles Spurgeon: "A sermon wept over is more acceptable with God than one gloried over."  I have been pondering this today and am challenged and humbled.  I wonder, does Spurgeon mean to address the preacher or the listener?  Or both?  

Jim Elliot and Nate Saint

Last Sunday, when I preached on 2 Chronicles 14:11, I spoke of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and their teammates who were all killed by Auca Indians in Ecuador, martyred for the cause of Christ and His gospel.  Today I was reminded that the very day of this sermon, January 8, was the 56th anniversary of these men's death-- Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Peter Fleming, Ed McCully, and Roger Youderian.  I was two and a half years old on that day.  The impact of their lives, ministries and deaths continue to impact the evangelical missions movement today.

Tim Challies has provided information regarding helpful resources for you to learn more about these men and their work and families. I encourage you to check out his blog where this information was posted on January 9 and entitled "The Ecuadorian Martyrs" (www.challies.com).  One resource he lists is a talk by Nate Saint's son, Steve, given at the 2005 Desiring God Conference.  I attended that conference and, like Tim Challies, I was deeply moved and challenged.  (I think Steve lives in the Orlando area, and I would love to invite Steve to speak here at RBBC during a future missions conference.)

Reading the Bible in 2012

Justin Taylor has provided a very helpful post listing a number of good plans for reading the Bible during the coming year.  I encourage you to go to his blog to read it and select a plan to use-- www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/.

Let It Heighten Your Surprise

As I prepare for Sunday morning, December 4, I found this quote from Jonathan Edwards.  It is lengthy but very much worthwhile!

"Consider what Christ has done for you.  He died for you.  O what did He bear for you?  If you knew the pains, the distress, and the agonies the glorious Son of God underwent for you, how would the thoughts of His kindness and love to you overcome you... God in Christ allows such little, poor creatures as you are to come to Him, to love communion with Him, and to maintain communication of love with Him.  You may go to God and tell Him how you love Him and open your heart and he will accept of it.  You may be familiar in your expressions of your love to Christ, as little or unworthy as you are, for He is near to you.  He is come down from heaven and has taken upon Him the human nature on purpose, that He might be near you and might be, as it were, your companion... You may place yourself in his divine embraces."

"Therefore don't let your unworthiness discourage you.  Let it heighten your surprise and cause you to express your love in the most humble manner possible.  But let it not keep you at a distance or change the expressions of your love.  You may want humility in your love, but you never can be guilty of any excess in the joys of divine love... Let these considerations influence you to the love of God and Jesus Christ, to love them with a superlative love and nothing contrary to them, and love nothing above them, and love nothing equal to them, and love nothing along with them with a parallel love.  And express your love by doing for them by being willing all your days to labor and suffer for the glory of God. Can you think of living so as to dishonor God and to be a stumbling block to others and a disadvantage to religion without the utmost dread of it and being sick at the thought of it?"

From "The Spirit of the True Saints Is a Spirit of Divine Love", a sermon a 1 John 4:16

Passion for the Gospel

Dear Rocky Family (and any others who may read this),

Excitement and anticipation is increasing within me as the Christmas season arrives because of the preaching theme God led me to!  Please pray for Pastor Travis, Denny Hustedt and me as we prepare to preach sermons flowing from this-- "Why Jesus Christ Was Born".  (The passages and titles of these sermons are found in the current newsletter available at our website.)  

"Why Jesus Christ Was Born" suggests gospel to us.  Yes, we will preach and hear the gospel over and over Nov. 27--Dec. 25!  And as I was finalizing the preaching Bible texts, sermon titles, and flow recently, a thought came to me that prompts me to say this to you.  If you are a believer in and lover of Jesus Christ, resist saying something like this: "Oh, I know so-and-so and, my, how he/she needs to hear the gospel."  Yes, please do invite unbelievers to RBBC at Christmas so that they will hear the great Christmas news of the gospel of Jesus! Yes, pray for those people and urge them to come with you to church, and invite them into your home, and strike up gospel conversations with them as you seek to show them the way to Christ!  

But resist saying, "Oh, I know so-and-so..." if by that you mean that you don't need to hear the gospel!  As followers of Jesus we live on the gospel!  We get stale when we neglect the gospel.  We are sanctified by the truth of the gospel, and we need to hear the gospel again and again!

In his little book, The Cross-Centered Life, C.J. Mahaney wrote, "Nothing can replace the gospel in a Christian's life...What are you most passionate about?  What do you think about when you can think about whatever you want?  What do you love to talk about?  What defines you?  Is it your career?  A relationship you are in?  Your hobby?  Your political affiliation?  A fascination with the latest electronic gadgets?"

"Or maybe your main thing is something that is clearly other centered.  Maybe its your ministry, your family.  Maybe it's homeschooling, or a cause like the prolife movement.  Good things all but not the one thing God says should be the most important-- the matter of first importance."

"'I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you,' Paul wrote. 'For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance; that Christ died for our sins'" (1 Cor. 15:1,3).

"If there is anything in life we should be passionate about, it's the gospel."

May the Lord intensify our passion for the gospel and the glory of Jesus Christ, and may He grant us loving boldness to share the gospel with lost people, and may He draw others to Himself through the preaching and testimonies of the gospel this Christmas time. 

Anxiety Invades Prayer

"Shall We Be Anxious?" is the title of the brief preaching series at RBBC.  I've had more responses to last Sunday's sermon than any other at Rocky.  Of course, we know that the answer to this question is "no", and I gave eight reasons our Lord taught to back up the answer from Matthew 6.

It is a fact that, for the follower of Christ, anxiety is sin because the Word of God says there's only one thing we can be anxious about-- nothing.  "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Phil. 4:6).  

This morning I read a quote alerting me/us to be ready for anxiety and worry to invade my/our praying.  May the Lord help me/us to pray trusting God to handle worrisome matters in life and not be diverted.  Here is the quote from Ed Welch in his book Running Scared:

"If I know that prayer isn't going to be easy, I am better prepared to deal with my excuses.  For example, too often I will begin to pray, then gravitate to the things that worry me, start to try to solve them, realize I am not really praying, and then decide to attend to urgent matter and pray later.  When I know that prayer is not natural, I realize that I shouldn't wait for prayer to feel easy.  If it seems hard, I am on the right path."

Christianity.com | Elizabeth Gaunt Burned for a Kindness

Suffering for the Gospel's Sake.

http://www.christianity.com/ChurchHistory/11630171/

A Needed Reminder from a Famous Missionary During Missions Conference Week

A Needed Reminder from a Famous Missionary During Missions Conference Week
Not Our Work for the Lord, but the Lord’s Own Work through Us    Source: thegospelcoalition.org