Satisfied???

"The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—
is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the
friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and
all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties
you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no
human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with
heaven, if Christ were not there?" John Piper - God Is The Gospel

The Gospel Lived Out In The Family

"Children growing up in a Christian home should actually be able to see the Gospel modeled in the way their father loves their mother with a sacrificial love, the love of Jesus for His church, and the way the mother submits to the father as an expression of the church's submission to the Lordship of Christ." - Alistair Begg

Now For Something Completely Different

One of my friends from high school is very involved in the start-up of a brand new company. The company's name is Alice , because after all, everyone needs an Alice. At least that's what their company slogan says. To be honest I'm not exactly sure how the company will work, but it is my understanding that consumers will be able to purchase household cleaning items, personal hygiene items, and other things and have them delivered to your home all with free shipping.

Now anyone who knows anything about our family knows that we love good deals. So our curiosity is peaked. Well, yesterday, to spread the word about the company, Alice offered up a freebie to anyone who posts about them on their blog. Which brings us to this.

Free Toilet Paper. For A Year.

Now who couldn't use that? I encourage you, no, I implore you to go and enter for yourself. If for no other reason, do it so that one day in one of those conversations when someone asks you if you have ever won anything you will be able to say, "I won a years worth of toilet paper." Now that's a conversation starter.
Contest ends Saturday, June 6 at midnight.

Do Right

Recently, our oldest son, Alex, was presented with an opportunity that would provide him with a lot more freedom than he had experienced before. This of course provided Mom and Dad with some concerns, but we gave our o.k. and permitted him to go. I thought about what I wanted to say to him before he went. In fact I thought about it a lot. Do I threaten him with the "if you do this" or do I ignore the multiple scenarios running through my mind? After all, it doesn't seem like that long ago when I was a teenage boy and I know what I would have done with the same level of freedom. As I thought about it, I decided to take the middle road. I left the threats and situations behind and instead gave him the following council. I don't believe that it is original to me, but I don't remember who said it. Anyway, this is what I told him as I was dropping him off.

"Alex, do right. Don't be good. Being good is situational. Just do right. Do right because it is right to do right." I think someone should walk up to me many times and say the same thing to me.

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Now playing: Sovereign Grace Music - Oh the Deep, Deep Love
via FoxyTunes

Death is Not Dying

This is more than a suggestion. Go here and watch the video or download the audio. A tremendous God-centered presentation of the Gospel. (Thanks to Kerry for passing this along)

Now I Wear His Righteousness

'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?' (Ps 22:1)

'So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha' (John 19:17)

Where were those who had followed him? Where were his disciples? Surely one of them would come to his aid and help him bear his cross. But no, for the Scriptures had stated long before, 'Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered' (Zech. 13:17).

No disciples to aid him. No angel to strengthen him as there had been in the garden. At Bethlehem, when the Saviour was born, the night was changed to day as the glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds. On Golgotha the day gave way to night as Christ sank deeper and deeper into the abyss of damnation. At Bethlehem there were countless angels praising God; on Golgotha legions of darkness filled the impenetrable gloom, hoping that darkness would finally triumph over light. Heaven was silent.

Christ felt both the hurt of man's injustice and the weight of God's justice as he went forth to bear the full curse of sin and so to be accursed of God. He was to die on a cross and 'cursed is every one that is hanged on a tree' (Gal. 3:13). Matthew Henry comments, 'Those that see him thus hang between heaven and earth will conclude him abandoned of both and unworthy of either'.

Christ became a 'curse for us'. He bore our sin and its consequences, even the curse of a holy God. He was treated as if he were a sinner. God's curse is intrinsically holy. It is his condemnation of sin and the sinner. Christ as sin-bearer was inevitably accursed of God. Just as blessing reaches its fullness in heaven, so the curse reaches it fullness in hell, and Christ experienced the curse in its fullness.

He 'took the curse upon Himself in order that He might satisfy us with His blessing'. While it is true that 'He came to preach the Gospel, His chief object in coming was that there might be a Gospel to preach'.

Now, the forgiven, restored sinner willingly takes up his cross and follows the Lord Jesus Christ. That cross is whatever the Christian suffers for the sake of Christ and his truth. In bearing that cross there is peace and blessedness as the Christian experiences the fellowship of Christ's sufferings. Not that we can share in the redemptive suffering of Christ, but rather that we seek by God's grace to deny self, accept the anguish of the struggle against sin and bear meekly the scorn of a world that rejects Christ. 'There are some who would have Christ cheap. They would have Him without the cross. But the price will not come down'.

The hand that reaches out for salvation must be empty. Everything of self must be disowned. We are debtors to mercy alone. We are all beggars. - Taken from The Cross He Bore, by Frederick Leahy

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Now playing: Aaron Keyes - Not Guilty Anymore
via FoxyTunes

Three On Thursday

Here are three random things I have learned in the last week.

• In 1996, these mummies were discovered in Egypt. I found it somewhat fascinating because people had been virtually living on top of the tombs for years and didn't know they existed. They were only discovered when a donkey tripped and knocked a hole into the roof with its hoof.

• If your doctor tells you that you need to lower your cholesterol, do not, under any circumstances, mention that fact within earshot of your children. They will not allow you to eat anything for the rest of your life. Actual quote, "You," said one sibling to the other, "May have as many sticky buns as you would like. Dad can't have any because his cholesterol is too high."

• I am constantly reminded that surrender is not a daily event in a victorious Christian's life, rather it is moment by moment. Col 3:3 "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." For someone who has died to sin, it is far to active in my life to be called dead. Yet I take hope in knowing that His grace is sufficient in this also. I have been purchased by His blood, therefore my life is hid in Christ, my Savior and my God.
  

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Now playing: Sara Groves - The Long Defeat
via FoxyTunes

Expanding My World

Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' Matthew 25:34-40

In My Weakness

Psalm 57:1-3

1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
till the storms of destruction pass by.
2 I cry out to God Most High,
to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
3 He will send from heaven and save me;
he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah
God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!

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Now playing: Rich Mullins - Bound to Come Some Trouble
via FoxyTunes

Refocus

Life has been a little crazy lately. More than I care to go into now, but it explains why I haven't been blogging. Today I came across this post on one of the blogs I read regularly. I posted the same video below in case you don't want to click out. I share it because it seems that often times when my needs seem the greatest to me, that they are best lifted by looking on the needs of others. It is not that my worries and concerns are unimportant, but when I view a video like the one below it readjusts my view. The concerns of my yesterdays, today and tomorrows cannot change my standing with my Savior for my salvation rests securely in Him. Nothing that happens to me here can change that. When I compare that to these thousands who have never heard it helps to put into perspective my worries in the present moment and their souls in the light of eternity. Would you pray with me that the Gospel would be proclaimed through this ministry?




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Now playing: Chris Rice - Untitled Hymn (Come to Jesus) [#]
via FoxyTunes

Ashes to Beauty

This song is incredible! I've been listening to it over and over again for a few months and then I actually thought, "Hey, I wonder if I can find it on Youtube." Here it is.
For those of you who pick up my feed off of facebook, you may need to got to my blog to see the video.

Perspective

The following quote is from a letter written by Nate Saint just 21 days before he was martyred by the Waodani (Auca) Indians in Ecuador on January 8, 1956. It was written just prior to Christmas as an open letter to his friends.

"As we have a high old time this Christmas, may we who know Christ hear the cry of the damned as they hurtle headlong into the Christless night without ever a chance."


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Now playing: Caedmon's Call - Be Merciful to Me
via FoxyTunes

Request Update

Just wanted to thank you for your prayers. Kim's surgery went well. We got her home around 5:00 last night. She is doing all right with her pain though just getting comfortable seems a struggle at times. Thanks again for your prayers. They are greatly appreciated.

Video

This is really, really well done!



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Now playing: Caedmon's Call - Before There Was Time [Live]
via FoxyTunes

Prayer Request

We would appreciate your prayers tomorrow afternoon as Kim goes in for gallbladder surgery. She is scheduled for surgery at 1:45 PM and should be home tomorrow evening if all goes well. Please pray for a healthy recovery for her.

The Greatness of God's Faithfulness

If you were ask people what their favorite all-time Christian song or hymn was, I am sure that the responses would be varied. Yet I suspect there would be a few that rise to the top of the list according to the frequency by which they are named. Songs such as Holy, Holy, Holy, Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, and Be Thou My Vision. I suppose that Because He Lives would be towards the top and maybe even some newer contemporary songs like Indescribable or Shout To The Lord. But I am sure that no list would be complete without many references to the hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness.

Now, in no way do I mean to convey any negativism towards the song Great Is Thy Faithfulness in this post. In fact my intent is the opposite for it is certainly one of the hymns I deeply cherish. And yet I have often wondered if people realize what they are singing when they sing it. For that matter, it seems as if though the phrase, "Great is His faithfulness" is an evangelical catch phrase. It often goes something like this. "Well, I didn't have enough money to pay my bills at the end of the week, but God provided and all were paid. Great is His faithfulness." While that also is true and God often does provide in miraculous ways for those He loves, it seems to me that we do a disservice to ourselves if we don't understand where that phrase first came from and what it meant when it was written. The point I am trying to make is that too often I think that we as believers look at God's provisional faithfulness to us like a great big blessings bank. "Look at my 3,500 square foot house, my luxury suv, and my brand new boat. Great is God's faithfulness!" We see all of our physicals blessings that God has graciously given us as proof of the attribute of His faithfulness. Yet God's faithfulness to us is far grander than physical blessings and it reaches far beyond our simple imagination of stuff.

For a long time if you would have asked me where the phrase "great is Your faithfulness" came from I would have answered with one of the following answers as a possibility; maybe Abraham said it as he looked at all that God had given him, or David as he surveyed his kingdom, but it was probably Job who said the words when God restored all back to him. But the phrase "great is Your faithfulness" comes from Lamentations 3:23. You know, that little book that is wedged between Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

Lamentations was written by Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, while he and the city of Jerusalem were under attack by the Babylonian army circa 586 BC. The Babylonian army circled the city of Jerusalem for approximately two and a half years from 588 to 586 BC. It was the ultimate waiting game. The Babylonians knew that Jerusalem could only defend herself and they also knew she would not surrender. So they simply waited. For two plus years not allowing anything in or anything out of the city. It was a waiting game of starvation. Sooner or later, Jerusalem would run out of food and then the Babylonians would take the city with little or no casualties. On top of the food issue that Jerusalem faced was the reality of disease. With two years of not being allowed out of the city, the refuse, garbage, and filth would have begun to pile up bringing in the vermin and disease. (II Kings 25:1-10, Lamentations 1:8-12)

Not to make anyone sick, but to give a glimpse into how bad a siege like this was we should also consider Jeremiah 19:9. In this verse, written before the attack on Jerusalem, Jeremiah prophesies that the eventual attack on the city would be so terrible that it's occupants would resort to cannibalism in their attempts to survive. This was not unprecedented. In fact when the northern city of Samaria was under a starvation attack 150 years earlier by the Assyrians, we are given the rather gruesome story in II Kings 6:26-29 of two women who agree with one another to eat each others sons.

I say all of this to try and prove the point that when Jeremiah wrote "great is Your faithfulness" he wasn't counting all of the stuff that God had given to him. In fact if you read Lamentations 3 you will find a man that seems broken almost beyond words. And yet he writes in the middle of it, "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him."
The faithfulness that Jeremiah is thankful for is that God continued to grant His mercy and compassion day after day to a sinner like Jeremiah. Jeremiah knew that he deserved to be perishing with those that were dying daily around him, yet in complete devotion to the One who alone can save he proclaims that his hope rests solely in the Lord.

Would that I like Jeremiah be able to say, "The Lord is my portion, I will hope only in Him." May He continue to strip away me from me that I become more dependent on Him. Then, as a debtor to His grace, mercy, and compassion alone may I be able to say, "Great is God's faithfulness for He has saved a wretch like me."


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Now playing: Aaron Keyes - Not What My Hands
via FoxyTunes