1. Adoption is the basis of our salvation - John 1:1-13, Ephesians 1:3-5, and Colossians 1.
2. Adoption is the basis for our relationship with Christ - John 3:16, Galatians 4:7, and Colossians 3.
3. Adoption is the basis for our relationship with God - Hebrews 5:5-10.
4. Adoption is the basis for ou relationship with the Spirit - John 3:5-6, Galatians 4:6, and Romans 8:15-16.
5. Adoption is the basis for Christian conduct - Matthew 5:6 and 6:9.
6. Adoption is the basis for Christian prayers - Romans 8 and Hebrews 4.
7. Adoption is the basis for Christian hope - Revelation 2.
...Because of this we should be at rest and at peace.
We should be characterized by security and hope.
Monday, January 31, 2005
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Ephesians 2:1-10
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carryig out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 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 - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Saturday, January 22, 2005
James 1:1-18 - Persevering
"It is a glorious thing to remain standing." After all the trials and tribulations of the world and the devil and to still praise Jesus Christ!
- it is ultimately God's perseverance with me and for me, ultimately for the glory and praise of Jesus Christ
- "Where does my help come from?" (Psalm 121) "My help comes from the Lord." - the Creator and Sovereign God
- God works perseverance in me (Phil. 2)
- It is Christ who keeps His sheep.
- perseverance and endurance produce characer therefore trialsmust come in order for us to be made into Christlikeness
- you must stand taking the pressure - perseverance is the divine ability to stand
- e.g., Daniel 1-3, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego
- you must believe in God's purposes and sovereignty and that you will receive "the crown of life"
- then wisdom transforms that knowledge - and all you must do is ask for wisdom with faith and you will learn of the amazing generosity of God
- you must know and allow Christ to have full Lordship of every part of your life
- humble yourself (1 Peter 5:6-7)
- don't ignore the blessings
- we must persevere in temptation: first it's attraction (twisted adoration for the false, untrue, wayward - very often in seeing something), then deception, then conception
- we must "[Hide] your word in my heart that I might not sin against you" - resist at the beginning - do not be deceived
- and know above all else that God is unchangeably good
- God is good all the time. All the time God is good. How do I know? Because He did not even spare His only Son, Jesus Christ.
- God has now supernaturally given us rebirth and something to hope in - persevere!
- we will receive the crown of life, our character will be built, we will be like Christ
Persevere and in the end we will be perfect in Christ and everything will be worth it.
And we will thank God for all of eternity!
Thursday, January 20, 2005
"Beautiful Scandalous Night"
Words by S. Hindalong, Music by D. Daugherty
Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore
Be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified
Follow Christ to the holy mountain
Sinner, sorry and wrecked by the fall
Cleanse your heart and your soul
In the fountain that flows
For you and for me and for all
At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful scandalous night
On the hillside you will be delivered
At the foot of the cross justified
And your spirit restored
By the river that pours
From our blessed Savior’s side
At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree…
Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified
At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by his blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful scandalous night…
Miraculous night
Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore
Be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified
Follow Christ to the holy mountain
Sinner, sorry and wrecked by the fall
Cleanse your heart and your soul
In the fountain that flows
For you and for me and for all
At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful scandalous night
On the hillside you will be delivered
At the foot of the cross justified
And your spirit restored
By the river that pours
From our blessed Savior’s side
At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree…
Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified
At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by his blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful scandalous night…
Miraculous night
Calling and Kingdom Impact
What is the purpose of learning/of Christian education?
- the building and establishing of the kingdom
- in oder to demonstrate the character of God in a fallen world
- we must have a concern for meeting the needs of the people of the world - we must be selfless - your jobs should not be for self-interest
--exercise a holy service to God and to one's neighbor--
Psalm 51 - Repentance
"You have not yet considered the greatness of the weight of sin."
Repent ...so that more people will return to God.
- recognize your failure
- gaze upon the true nature of your heart in all its evil
- sin is disregarding the glory of God
- you must know the "appalling sinfulness" of your own heart in order to experience the grace of God
- sin is serious and has impact on your life
- ask forgiveness - "blot out my transgressions"
- it is God who we sin against hence who we must ask forgiveness from
- David's sin was the "utter unfitness" ofbeing the presence of God
- repentance is rooted in God's amazing grace
- David could not do anything - no sacrifice would suffice - it was according to God's steadfast love - it is God who must have mercy on the sinner
- rejoice in forgiveness - it's this that transforms your life - SING!
- the whole of the Christian life should be repentance - until the end when we'll be transformed
Repent ...so that more people will return to God.
- recognize your failure
- gaze upon the true nature of your heart in all its evil
- sin is disregarding the glory of God
- you must know the "appalling sinfulness" of your own heart in order to experience the grace of God
- sin is serious and has impact on your life
- ask forgiveness - "blot out my transgressions"
- it is God who we sin against hence who we must ask forgiveness from
- David's sin was the "utter unfitness" ofbeing the presence of God
- repentance is rooted in God's amazing grace
- David could not do anything - no sacrifice would suffice - it was according to God's steadfast love - it is God who must have mercy on the sinner
- rejoice in forgiveness - it's this that transforms your life - SING!
- the whole of the Christian life should be repentance - until the end when we'll be transformed
Glorifying God
Glorifying God is the primary purpose of everything.
I represent His glory now here on earth - God dwelling in me (Phil. 2).
What does it mean to glorify God with my life?
Confessing Jesus as Lord.
- embracing, honoring, accepting His truth
- to reject Christ is to refuse to glorify God - the preaching of Christ is for the glory of God (Rom. 1:5 & 3 John 7)
Aiming your life @ that purpose (to glorify God).
- this should be why you live
1. prefer Him and His Kingdom above all else
2. be content to do His will no matter what the cost
3. you suffer when He suffers - when God's Word and God's Truth is dishonored
4. you're content to be outdone - be bold to preach Christ
2 Corinthians 4:7-15
You must give up your life for the people, the grace, and the glory of God.
I represent His glory now here on earth - God dwelling in me (Phil. 2).
What does it mean to glorify God with my life?
Confessing Jesus as Lord.
- embracing, honoring, accepting His truth
- to reject Christ is to refuse to glorify God - the preaching of Christ is for the glory of God (Rom. 1:5 & 3 John 7)
Aiming your life @ that purpose (to glorify God).
- this should be why you live
1. prefer Him and His Kingdom above all else
2. be content to do His will no matter what the cost
3. you suffer when He suffers - when God's Word and God's Truth is dishonored
4. you're content to be outdone - be bold to preach Christ
2 Corinthians 4:7-15
You must give up your life for the people, the grace, and the glory of God.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Monday, January 10, 2005
quotes from the journals & letters of David Livingstone (i presume)
"Let us seek - and with the conviction that we cannot do without it - that all selfishness be extirpated, pride banished, unbelief driven from the mind, every idol dethroned, and everything hostile to holiness and opposued to the divine will crucified; that 'holiness to the Lord' may be engraven on the heart, and ever-more characterize our whole existence."
"...Oh Jesus, fill me with Your love now, and I beseech You accep me, and use me a little for Your glory. I have done nothing for You yet, and I would like to do something..."
"...Oh Jesus, fill me with Your love now, and I beseech You accep me, and use me a little for Your glory. I have done nothing for You yet, and I would like to do something..."
by "Brother Roberts"
"The deadness which periodically afflicts the believer is never total but always partial. It is, however, a serious disease of the soul and weakens him in every way. He prays still; but his prayers are languid and formal. He goes through the motions of all spiritual duty; but he is uneasily aware that all is not well with himself. He feels like a man in a dream or in a daze. A film of worldliness has somehow coated over every faculty of his heart and mind. He tries to shake off his lethargy but finds it alamingly difficult to do so. He no longer lives consciously upon the life that is in Christ but goes through the routine of service to God more because he ought to do it than because he wants to.
One lesson we may learn from it is that our souls, being clogged with corruption, are constantly deceiving us into a state of formalism and hypocrisy. One day we seek Christ with all our hearts and find him. But then we imperceptibly decline in earnestness. We cease to pant after God. We do not pursue him till we find him and get his felt presence. Next we grow accustomed to living at a distance from him. When months, perhaps, have gone by we become guiltily conscious that something has gone wrong with our relationship with God. The sun of righteousness does not shine upon our hearts. A damp mist or fog has covered the landscape of the soul and God is enjoyed only in theory but not as a present reality. All this is a sure sign that we have unwittingly drifted into formalism. We have lost our ardour and are following afar off.
A time of spiritual death is not a thing to be taken lightly by us as Christians. When the soul sleeps the owls of the night fly abroad. Temptations flit across the believer's life with sevenfold mischief. It is the harvest time of the devil when we follow Christ from afar. Now Satan sees the hour he has long waited for in which we sleep on the lap of carelessness. He will strike when the iron is hot. He will, if he can, approach us at that hour with the shears to cut off our locks of consecration and render us a blow which we may never recover from all our life.
When we feel deadness of heart, we are to look for the remedy only by repentance. Repentance ought to be a believer's daily and hourly companion. Brokenness of heart and tenderness of spirit should be the hallmark of our whole character. Every emotion we have needs to be sweetened and purged with this spirit of penitence. But, though this is true as a general rule of life, there is a place for special repentance in our experience when we find ourselves spiritually dead. It is in repentance that our deliverance lies.
We make no spiritual progress apart from repentance. When we come to our Bibles and to good books, or else to prayer and preaching it will be found true that we get good and feel God's blessing in proportion as we handle these means of grace with tenderness of heart and with self-abasement. It is not the having of spiritual privileges which yields the advantage or confers the blessing upon us. It is the having of a humble heart and an exercised spirit as we handle the things of God."
One lesson we may learn from it is that our souls, being clogged with corruption, are constantly deceiving us into a state of formalism and hypocrisy. One day we seek Christ with all our hearts and find him. But then we imperceptibly decline in earnestness. We cease to pant after God. We do not pursue him till we find him and get his felt presence. Next we grow accustomed to living at a distance from him. When months, perhaps, have gone by we become guiltily conscious that something has gone wrong with our relationship with God. The sun of righteousness does not shine upon our hearts. A damp mist or fog has covered the landscape of the soul and God is enjoyed only in theory but not as a present reality. All this is a sure sign that we have unwittingly drifted into formalism. We have lost our ardour and are following afar off.
A time of spiritual death is not a thing to be taken lightly by us as Christians. When the soul sleeps the owls of the night fly abroad. Temptations flit across the believer's life with sevenfold mischief. It is the harvest time of the devil when we follow Christ from afar. Now Satan sees the hour he has long waited for in which we sleep on the lap of carelessness. He will strike when the iron is hot. He will, if he can, approach us at that hour with the shears to cut off our locks of consecration and render us a blow which we may never recover from all our life.
When we feel deadness of heart, we are to look for the remedy only by repentance. Repentance ought to be a believer's daily and hourly companion. Brokenness of heart and tenderness of spirit should be the hallmark of our whole character. Every emotion we have needs to be sweetened and purged with this spirit of penitence. But, though this is true as a general rule of life, there is a place for special repentance in our experience when we find ourselves spiritually dead. It is in repentance that our deliverance lies.
We make no spiritual progress apart from repentance. When we come to our Bibles and to good books, or else to prayer and preaching it will be found true that we get good and feel God's blessing in proportion as we handle these means of grace with tenderness of heart and with self-abasement. It is not the having of spiritual privileges which yields the advantage or confers the blessing upon us. It is the having of a humble heart and an exercised spirit as we handle the things of God."
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