Salvation and Faith Like a Child

It may seem that the doctrine of salvation is more complex than it needs to be.  What ever happened to having faith like a child?  Scripture has much to say about salvation, and Jesus made many key statements about salvation, one of which concerns childlike faith.

When you read these passages (Mark 10:14, Matt. 18:2) what you will find is that Jesus is not refferring to simplicity.  He is not saying that we must come to Christ with the mind or capacity to understand as a child.  He is saying the we must come relationaly to him as children.  In the Matt. account he addresses humiliy directly and says that we must be converted (turn, change) and become like children, humbling ourselves.  In the Mark passage the account is given concerning the difficulty of wealth in relationship to saving faith.  The disciples ask Jesus, “Then who can be saved?(10:26)”  Then Jesus replies, “With people it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God.”

So what is Jesus trying to say?  He is obviously not saying that salvation is a snap, as easy as 1,2,3.  No, left to ourselves salvation is impossible!  This is why it is so important, as believers, to give people a God-centered gospel.  The call is to repent, turn to Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, believe on His name.  But what is going on in the spirit of those who do turn and repent is so much more than a simple prayer…God is at calling, regenerating, and applying all the wonderful benefits of the atonement. 

The gospel is beautifully complex, yet oh so simply possible with God!

 

The Image of God: Great Message on the Topic

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/MediaPlayer/679/Audio/

 

Meant to Live

Posting will continue this week on the topic of the Imago Dei!  For today I have added a fun file sharng widget to the bottome of the sidebar… you can download the Switchfoot song I referenced in the message today.  BEWARE:  It is a very peppy number, but fun.

I am going to try to put all the notes sheets in PDF this week and have them available for sharing here and at habc.net.  Post any thoughts or questions that you may like to see adressed this week.

 

Satan’s Schemes

I remember as a kid going to seminar on the satanic influences of rock music.  Now, there are certainly many popular songs that are sinful.  But Satan’s influence comes in numerous different ways, most of them seem innocent.  At this conference they talked about playing records backwards and other sensational aspects of satan’s music.  This is fine, I guess, but we are really open to his influence is in more subtle ways.  I want to discuss briefly three subtle ways that I believe Satan uses to distort reality and our views about God.

1)  The idea of Self-Esteem/Self-Confidence:
I believe one of the sneakiest lies every crafted by the devil is the lie that I can find significance, importance, and supreme value in my own person-hood.  This is so ingrained in us that it is almost hard to say that it is not Scriptural to have self-esteem or self-confidence.  You might say – come on preacher – we have to instill self-esteem and self-confidence in our kids.  We have to posses these traits to survive.  I say absolutely not!  We must drive self-esteem and self-confidence out of our children and out of our lives.

They key problem here is the word SELF.  Satan has used this tactic from the very beginning.  He told Adam and Eve that they could take it into their own hands to be like God.  You can be like God.  Self-Esteem means that we do everything in our power to feel good about ourselves.  But is this what the Bible teaches?  Where are we to derive our value?  Are we to derive our value from self or from someone outside of ourselves?  Read this passage,                                2 Corinthians 4:4-18:

4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.  We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;  persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.  For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.  For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

In light of this passage, where are we to derive our value and confidence?  We have value.  We are to have unwavering confidence.  But this is not to come from SELF.  It is to come from Jesus!  It is to come from the truth about what he has done for us and about what he is doing in us.  It comes from the power of the Gospel, his death and resurrection.  This is why Paul says, “For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers.  Amen.  (Galatians 6:13-18)

We must be about bearing the marks of Jesus, not SELF.  I could say more…but I will leave that for discussion. 

2) Relativism (Truth Originates With Self)
All of Satan’s methods revolve around one powerful theme.  Keep human beings thinking that they rule their lives.  Keep Tad on the throne of his life and I have Tad right where I want him.  This is true of the last topic and it is true when it comes to the very concept of truth.  Satan has done a great job teaching us to equate truth with our feelings and experiences.  Thus truth is relative to what I think or feel based upon my experience of the world.  This is called relativism. 

He did this to Eve.  What happened? “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”  Eve bought the lie that if it looks good and if I can make up a rationale for going against God’s demands than it is OK for me to eat.  Satan uses this all the time.  Why are we even discussing issues of homosexuality, porn addiction on the web, and adultery as problems in our churches?  It is because we have learned from the master to rationalize and relativize our lives.  I have heard the same lines over and over the past ten years when confronting people dealing with various sin.  Well, if only my wife was such and such I wouldn’t have a problem, or if he paid attention to me  I wouldn’t have had the affair, or God made me this way.  Satan has fed us more lines to use to make excuses for sin than all the sentences contained in the library of Congress.  He is the master of relativism.  The idea that I create truth.  Where do we find truth – Jesus said, ” I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  His word is truth.

3)  Pluralism (Salvation is Sefl-Originating)
Pluralism is the concept that anyone who sincerely worships and practices their religious beliefs will be granted eternal life.  Pluralism says that all roads lead to heaven, but what matters is sincerity.  Or basically, self is all that matters in religion.  I hope I do not have to say to much on this one.  This is why I adamantly believe in a God-Centered gospel opposed to a man-centered gospel.  We have no ability to earn salvation.  We have not strength of will to choose salvation.  We are born dead in our trespasses and sins. And by his love and grace God pursues us, calls us, regenerates us so that we can run to him, clinging to his grace for our salvation alone!  Salvation is not a matter of self-willingness.  It is a matter of the God’s glorious, unmerited grace!

“…He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  John 8:44b

Satan is a great adversary and his number one weapon is distorting the truth and spinning a factory of lies.

 

 

 

 

Must Read: Just Like Me by Frank Turk

I want to link to Frank Turk’s post which is a theological reflection on the Virginia Tech shooting.  This is very insightful and I really hope everyone will take the time to read this.  When you are finished think about your salvation and the truth that the Gospel is the solution.

Here’s the link:  www.centuri0n.blogspot.com    

 

Opening Up A Cosmic Can Of Worms

We did not touch very much on creationist theories regarding God’s work in creation.  I mentioned briefly the intelligent design movement and demonstrated a few (in a very elementary fashion) of their arguments.  If anyone has any ideas they want to toss around, now would be the time.

As I mentioned, I am a young earth guy who believes in a literal six day creation.  I believe one can hold this position and still be in harmony with true science.  I reject all scientific opining on origins that deal only with naturalistic assumptions.  I believe that this is not science.  Science must deal with things that are observable and testable.  This is why my view of creation is biased towards the authority of Scripture on the matter.  Now, others will say that Scripture says something quite different than a literal six day creation.  I am fine with that, although I don’t agree.  The cultural battle of origins will never be won if Christians are committed to fighting one another.  We need to inject reasonable and rationale arguments for intelligent creation into the public sphere that demonstrate the fallacies of naturalism as a worldview and force the naturalist academy to admit their own religious beliefs that cloud their scientific judgement.

 

Every Sunday Resurrection Sunday

Sorry I did not post last week…I had a crazy week in Arizona doing some mission trip planning with Chad Mann.  I would like to reflect today about yesterday’s topic of the resurrection. One truth that has always been a part of my spiritual DNA and that I pray will become a part of Harvard’ s DNA is that every Sunday is Resurrection Sunday. 

We had about 150 more people in attendance yesterday than on a “normal” Sunday morning.  I realize that a certain number that attended are family members of our regular attenders.  But, part of that number is that most members all come to church at the same time because we don’t want to miss Easter Sunday.  The challenge is for us view every Sunday as extremely crucial  to our spiritual lives.  Not because there are special events, activities, etc.  We should come ready every week to corporately worship our King.  To sing, pray and hear His word proclaimed as a body is at the core of our Christian faith.  We should come every week to celebrate the reality of the risen savior.

What should be normal for believers is that almost nothing can keep us from our church family on Sunday.  The writer of Hebrews proclaims, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:23-25)

Now this passage gives us three positive commands and in the middle of the passage he tells us one sure fire way to fail in these matters. 

First, he says to hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.  This is in the present active form which literally means – keep on holding fast the confession of our hope.  If we neglect the assembly we put ourselves in danger of losing hope, of being discouraged.  God gave us the body so that we maitain hope in our faith and in the faithfullness of our savior.

Second, the writer says for us to consider something.  We are to consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.  WOW, here is a revolutionary thought!  I am not to attend on Sunday simply for myself.  I am to attend considering how to stir up my brothers and sisters in Christ to love and to do good works.  I am to be stirred and I am to stir!  This literally means that I am to provoke, incite, stimulate, and sharpen others while they do the same to me.  We do not come to be passive recievers but to be active engagers.  There is no way I can accomplish this if I am there only half the time.  There is no way I can be stirred-up if I am gone all the time.  WOW – this is getting good.

Finally, he says we are to encourage one another.  If we put this in the negative it goes like this, “When I neglect my church it is discouraging to my brothers and sisters in Christ.”  When I fail to be committed to the body, not only can I not encourage the body, but I become a source of discouragement to the body of Christ!

Have you ever thought about church attendance in these terms? If not, ponder all the possibilites and the impact you can have in your local church body by following these three exhortations.

 

Jesus is the Solution to Culture

We have all sung the chorus, “Jesus is the answer for the world today…yadayadayada.”  We have dawned the WWJD slogan by way of T-shirt, ball-cap, or bracelet.  Most of us have used Jesus as a nifty slogan, a somewhat easy answer that solves all of life’s ills.  That sad truth is this…we have reduced Jesus to a slogan when He really is the solution to culture.  He is the solution to all the ills, injustice, pain, and perversion in society.  The problem is not that Jesus is the answer…the problem is that the answer did not come cheap. 

We are heading into Easter full steam, so we need to really think about some things.  First, lets talk about the incarnation.  I mentioned Sunday that this was a huge downgrade for Jesus to become man.  I have to be admittadly careful here because God does everything for the maximization of his own glory, so Jesus was not forced into a bad situation.  Scripture makes us clear that Jesus became man and went to the cross for, “the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2).  But, Paul makes it clear in Phillipians that this was a matter of humility.  So the very idea of the incarnation is not a cheap, sloganish idea.  I don’t think I can even come up with a incarnational type slogan.  Jesus became man for us.  Let us not forget that this is a huge part of his atoneing work for us…that, “the word became flesh and dwelt among us…AND WE SAW HIS GLORY”(John 1:14).  WOW!  God allowed man to see His glory in one like us…folks that is what love is.  Love is not some syruppy infatuation with the human race.  God’s love is not some risk takers adventure when a divine being decides to have “faith” in his creation.  God’s love is that he became one of us, while retaining all of who He already was.  If we really process this our brains will explode!  God loves us this much.  SO – the incarnation was not cheap.  It was an amazing grace in action.

Think about this…Jesus obviously laid aside his rights as God.  He demonstrated his divine attributes on more than one occasion, but get this – he never used his devine attributes to bail himself out of his humanity.  What do I mean by this?  When he was tempted by Satan he was asked to deny his humanity each time to bail himself out of the temptation.  Satan said, “your hungry, turn the stone to bread.”  Have you ever wondered what is the problem with Jesus doing that?  It would have been using his divine nature to bail himself out of being 100% human.  Human beings cannot turn rocks in a chicago style pizza, it just doesn’t work that way.  Every time Jesus used his divne attribute it was to point to His message, His authority, the reality of why he came in the first place.  This is cool stuff – it was not cheap for Jesus to lay aside his rights as God.

Now lets turn to the cross.  Believe me, the disciples would really be amazed that we wear crosses around our necks as jewelry.  The cross in the first century was not a pretty thing.  It was a gruesome sight.  I imagine that those who witnessed crucifixions had nightmares.  It was not an easy image to get out of one’s head.  We have turned so many things into mear symbols and we can lose the reality of what really happened.  Now, the nails, the crown of thorns, the scourging, this is important because of the humanity of Christ and the nature of the atonement.  “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin” (Hebrews 9:22).  Christ was the final and perfect sacrifice for our sin….he did what Adam could not do and accomplished the exact opposite.  Adam managed to plunge the world into a sinful state, while Jesus offers himself as a new representative head for all those who are born-again (Romans 5, John 3).  So the physical, blood, sacrifice is important because Christ’s blood is what satisfied the demands of the Father.  But, the spiritual aspect of this is what is really terrifying.  God poured out his wrath on Jesus.  Jesus paid the complete penalty for our sin in our place.  Scripture states that he, “bore our sins in his body on the cross…” (I Peter 2:24).  2 Cor. 5:21 says that. “He who knew no sin became sin on OUR behalf.”  “The Lord was pleased to crush him” (Isaiah 53:10)

Is the phrase Jesus is the Solution to Culture a cheap phrase?  Absolutely Not!

 

Does Prayer Change God’s Mind?

Does prayer change God’s mind?  This is one of those nifty little questions that people like to toss around when discussing prayer.  The problem is that most folks do not take the time or effort to think what a question is really asking.  So let’s formulate an answer to this question.

In thinking about this one first has to determine, What is prayer?  We defined prayer as communication with God last Sunday and we walked through four different categories of prayer.  I find it interesting that three of those categories are relational and build trust and intimacy with God.  Only one of the categories, supplication, focuses on bringing requests to God.  So prayer is not primarily asking of God, prayer is primarily about intimacy with God.  When we are intimate with God it changes our asking.  Asking is something we do of our earthly fathers and it is also something we do of our heavenly father. 

As a Dad of a three, almost four year old, I get asked many things.  And one thing I am learning is that I have to say no many many times.  Why?  Because my little girl asks of me many things that would not be good for her if I said yes.  I must say no because I love her.  She also asks of me things that do not fit into the plan for the day.  For me to say yes would be disruptive to what must be accomplished.  Now, as a human father I am fallible.  Sometimes I say no when I should say yes.  Sometimes I say yes when I should say no.  Sometimes I act like I am not listening.  But God is not fallible.  He is perfectly wise in all of his dealings with us and he is perfectly good in all of his dealings with us.  So God answers our prayer always according to his character.  He never answers our prayers because he gives in to us or thinks we have a better argument, etc.  God always answers according to his purposes and plan.  We can rest assured that God always hears and responds for our good.

The next word in this question is the word “change.”  We know clearly from the Scripture that God does not change!  Malachi 3:6 says, “For I the Lord, do not change…”  God does not change his in his character or purposes.  He, at times, in the Scripture, does change in his actions towards men.  This does not mean that his will changed or his plan changed or his character changed.  And it certainly does not mean that he was forced into action by prayer.  It simply means that God has ordered things in such a way that he lovingly responds to our prayers when those prayers are in line with his purpose and character.  For example, God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to them judgement.  Then is vs. 10 it states, “When God saw their deeds, that they turned away from their wicked ways, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.”  Here is an example of God “changing” in his actions towards men.  Now, was this outside of his knowledge, purpose, or character.  Absolutely not!  As a matter of fact, when Jonah was whining about God’s response to the city’s belief God said, “Should I not have compassion on Nineveh?”  God’s actions were in-line with His character and plan.  Why would he go to the trouble that it took to get Jonah to Nineveh had he not intended to show compassion upon them.  This is a great passage to illustrate that God has a plan that will come to pass and at the same time we make real choices, that have real consequences.  This is what happens when a sovereign God determines to interact with his creation.

The final word in this question is the word, “mind.”  The key thought here is that my mind and God’s mind is quite a different thing.  My mind cannot come close to conceiving or understanding an omniscient mind.  So to even reason whether or not prayer changes God’s mind, one must first admit to have no real knowledge of what the mind of God is like.  God says in Isaiah, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.”For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (55:8-9) 

 So, to declare that prayer changes God’s mind is quite a statement.  That would suggest that someone knows the reality of the mind of God.  So here lies our answer to this question.  Prayer does not change God’s mind.  God does respond to our prayers and does, at times, change course of action as he relates to us as his creation.  But this is always, always, always in line with His will and His character.

 

Does God Still Speak Today?

When we think of prayer as communication with God it is so important to understand that God does communicate to us.  I want to share a devotion I read this week.  I think this powerfully illustrates the close relationship between our prayers and the Word of God.
 
The Morning I Heard the Voice of God
By John Piper

Read this resource on our website.

Let me tell you about a most wonderful experience I had early Monday morning, March 19, 2007, a little after six o’clock. God actually spoke to me. There is no doubt that it was God. I heard the words in my head just as clearly as when a memory of a conversation passes across your consciousness. The words were in English, but they had about them an absolutely self-authenticating ring of truth. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God still speaks today.

I couldn’t sleep for some reason. I was at Shalom House in northern Minnesota on a staff couples’ retreat. It was about five thirty in the morning. I lay there wondering if I should get up or wait till I got sleepy again. In his mercy, God moved me out of bed. It was mostly dark, but I managed to find my clothing, got dressed, grabbed my briefcase, and slipped out of the room without waking up Noël. In the main room below, it was totally quiet. No one else seemed to be up. So I sat down on a couch in the corner to pray.

As I prayed and mused, suddenly it happened. God said, “Come and see what I have done.” There was not the slightest doubt in my mind that these were the very words of God. In this very moment. At this very place in the twenty-first century, 2007, God was speaking to me with absolute authority and self-evidencing reality. I paused to let this sink in. There was a sweetness about it. Time seemed to matter little. God was near. He had me in his sights. He had something to say to me. When God draws near, hurry ceases. Time slows down.

I wondered what he meant by “come and see.” Would he take me somewhere, like he did Paul into heaven to see what can’t be spoken? Did “see” mean that I would have a vision of some great deed of God that no one has seen? I am not sure how much time elapsed between God’s initial word, “Come and see what I have done,” and his next words. It doesn’t matter. I was being enveloped in the love of his personal communication. The God of the universe was speaking to me.

Then he said, as clearly as any words have ever come into my mind, “I am awesome in my deeds toward the children of man.” My heart leaped up, “Yes, Lord! You are awesome in your deeds. Yes, to all men whether they see it or not. Yes! Now what will you show me?”

The words came again. Just as clear as before, but increasingly specific: “I turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There they rejoiced in me—who rules by my might forever.” Suddenly I realized God was taking me back several thousand years to the time when he dried up the Red Sea and the Jordan River. I was being transported by his word back into history to those great deeds. This is what he meant by “come and see.” He was transporting me back by his words to those two glorious deeds before the children of men. These were the “awesome deeds” he referred to. God himself was narrating the mighty works of God. He was doing it for me. He was doing it with words that were resounding in my own mind.

There settled over me a wonderful reverence. A palpable peace came down. This was a holy moment and a holy corner of the world in northern Minnesota. God Almighty had come down and was giving me the stillness and the openness and the willingness to hear his very voice. As I marveled at his power to dry the sea and the river, he spoke again. “I keep watch over the nations—let not the rebellious exalt themselves.”

This was breathtaking. It was very serious. It was almost a rebuke. At least a warning. He may as well have taken me by the collar of my shirt, lifted me off the ground with one hand, and said, with an incomparable mixture of fierceness and love, “Never, never, never exalt yourself. Never rebel against me.”

I sat staring at nothing. My mind was full of the global glory of God. “I keep watch over the nations.” He had said this to me. It was not just that he had said it. Yes, that is glorious. But he had said this to me. The very words of God were in my head. They were there in my head just as much as the words that I am writing at this moment are in my head. They were heard as clearly as if at this moment I recalled that my wife said, “Come down for supper whenever you are ready.” I know those are the words of my wife. And I know these are the words of God.

Think of it. Marvel at this. Stand in awe of this. The God who keeps watch over the nations, like some people keep watch over cattle or stock markets or construction sites—this God still speaks in the twenty-first century. I heard his very words. He spoke personally to me.

What effect did this have on me? It filled me with a fresh sense of God’s reality. It assured me more deeply that he acts in history and in our time. It strengthened my faith that he is for me and cares about me and will use his global power to watch over me. Why else would he come and tell me these things?

It has increased my love for the Bible as God’s very word, because it was through the Bible that I heard these divine words, and through the Bible I have experiences like this almost every day. The very God of the universe speaks on every page into my mind—and your mind. We hear his very words. God himself has multiplied his wondrous deeds and thoughts toward us; none can compare with him! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told (Psalm 40:5).

And best of all, they are available to all. If you would like to hear the very same words I heard on the couch in northern Minnesota, read Psalm 66:5-7. That is where I heard them. O how precious is the Bible. It is the very word of God. In it God speaks in the twenty-first century. This is the very voice of God. By this voice, he speaks with absolute truth and personal force. By this voice, he reveals his all-surpassing beauty. By this voice, he reveals the deepest secrets of our hearts. No voice anywhere anytime can reach as deep or lift as high or carry as far as the voice of God that we hear in the Bible.

It is a great wonder that God still speaks today through the Bible with greater force and greater glory and greater assurance and greater sweetness and greater hope and greater guidance and greater transforming power and greater Christ-exalting truth than can be heard through any voice in any human soul on the planet from outside the Bible.

This is why I found the article in this month’s Christianity Today, “My Conversation with God,” so sad. Written by an anonymous professor at a “well-known Christian University,” it tells of his experience of hearing God. What God said was that he must give all his royalties from a new book toward the tuition of a needy student. What makes me sad about the article is not that it isn’t true or didn’t happen. What’s sad is that it really does give the impression that extra-biblical communication with God is surpassingly wonderful and faith-deepening. All the while, the supremely-glorious communication of the living God which personally and powerfully and transformingly explodes in the receptive heart through the Bible everyday is passed over in silence.

I am sure this professor of theology did not mean it this way, but what he actually said was, “For years I’ve taught that God still speaks, but I couldn’t testify to it personally. I can only do so now anonymously, for reasons I hope will be clear” (emphasis added). Surely he does not mean what he seems to imply—that only when one hears an extra-biblical voice like, “The money is not yours,” can you testify personally that God still speaks. Surely he does not mean to belittle the voice of God in the Bible which speaks this very day with power and truth and wisdom and glory and joy and hope and wonder and helpfulness ten thousand times more decisively than anything we can hear outside the Bible.

I grieve at what is being communicated here. The great need of our time is for people to experience the living reality of God by hearing his word personally and transformingly in Scripture. Something is incredibly wrong when the words we hear outside Scripture are more powerful and more affecting to us than the inspired word of God. Let us cry with the psalmist, “Incline my heart to your word” (Psalm 119:36). “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). Grant that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened to know our hope and our inheritance and the love of Christ that passes knowledge and be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 1:18; 3:19). O God, don’t let us be so deaf to your word and so unaffected with its ineffable, evidential excellency that we celebrate lesser things as more thrilling, and even consider this misplacement of amazement worthy of printing in a national magazine.

Still hearing his voice in the Bible,

Pastor John