I was doing a bible study this afternoon with a new Christian. We were looking at Luke 11 and Jesus's teaching on prayer. I was reminded of something Mark Driscoll said about what he thinks is the most important thing to say about prayer....
http://bit.ly/Xhejlm
It's clear and simple but it's also winsome and attractive.
Wednesday, 3 April 2013
Friday, 29 March 2013
Aim Lower, Think Smaller, Give Up, Have a Cup of Coffee
Love this video. Much food for thought and a great challenge....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0R6oAJCVvg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0R6oAJCVvg
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
Rob Bell
Thursday, 10 January 2013
A Prayer for the Frontline
Our "Frontline" is the place where our faith in Christ intersects with those who aren't Christians. Wherever this is for us can I offer you this prayer (courtesy of Chris Dinsdale of Chaplaincy Plus). Of course your Frontline may not be a "workplace" as such, it might be the kitchen table if you share a house with people who aren't Believers, or it could be the school gate or the Pilates class -adapt the prayer as necessary!
My Heavenly Father, as I enter this work place, I
acknowledge your presence ahead of me.
I speak Your peace, Your grace, Your mercy, and Your
perfect order into this
office.
I acknowledge Your power over all that will be spoken,
thought, decided, and done within these walls.
Lord, I thank You for the gifts you have blessed me
with. I commit to using them responsibly in Your
honour.
Give me a fresh supply of strength to do my job. Anoint
my projects, ideas and energy, so that even my smallest accomplishment may bring
You glory.
Lord, when I am confused, guide me. When I am weary,
energise me. When I am burned out, infuse me with the light of the Holy
Spirit.
May the work that I do and the way I do it bring faith,
joy, and a smile to all that I come in contact with today.
And Oh Lord, when I leave this place, give me travelling
mercy.
Bless my family and home to be in order as I left
it.
Lord, I thank you for everything You've done, everything
You're doing, and everything You're going to do.
In the Name of Jesus I pray, with much love and
thanksgiving....Amen.
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
Gospel Maths
I talked on Sunday morning about "Gospel Maths" which tells us that:
This is such an important thing to get our heads round and to get into our experience. Jesus is enough. Who He is and what He has achieved for us is everything we need.
Through His atoning death on the cross there is now no condemnation for us (Romans 8:1), we can be led by His Spirit knowing life and peace (6), we can cut the legs of sin and temptation with the Spirit's sword (13), we can know adoption into God's family and Him as Father (15), we get an inheritance that can never fade, spoil or perish (17), we can know that however bad things get it's nothing compared to the good stuff we're going to receive (18), we realise that the aches and pains we suffer are difficult but not weird as we live in the "now and not yet" (23), we get to have the Holy Spirit praying for us (26) as well as Jesus Himself who's at the right hand of the Father (34), we can know that in ALL things God is working for our good (28), we have God for us so who on earth can really be against us (31), we have the cross as the ultimate measure of God's commitment to us (32), we are not just conquerors but MORE THAN conquerors transforming bad stuff into God glorifying good stuff (37) and of course, because of Jesus, nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from His love (39).
We're tempted not to believe these truths. We're tempted to believe that other things are necessary: money, health, nice kids, successful career, the acceptance of others, dramatic spiritual experiences, romantic relationships, food, fruitful Christian service, being "right"....we're tempted to believe that these things aren't just nice but essential.
Of course we need Jesus.....but we're tempted to believe that in actual fact we've got to have these other things (delete as appropriate) - just look at how you react when you face the prospect of not having these.....follow the trajectory of your day dreams and nightmares......
Jesus + Nothing = Everything
This is such an important thing to get our heads round and to get into our experience. Jesus is enough. Who He is and what He has achieved for us is everything we need.
Through His atoning death on the cross there is now no condemnation for us (Romans 8:1), we can be led by His Spirit knowing life and peace (6), we can cut the legs of sin and temptation with the Spirit's sword (13), we can know adoption into God's family and Him as Father (15), we get an inheritance that can never fade, spoil or perish (17), we can know that however bad things get it's nothing compared to the good stuff we're going to receive (18), we realise that the aches and pains we suffer are difficult but not weird as we live in the "now and not yet" (23), we get to have the Holy Spirit praying for us (26) as well as Jesus Himself who's at the right hand of the Father (34), we can know that in ALL things God is working for our good (28), we have God for us so who on earth can really be against us (31), we have the cross as the ultimate measure of God's commitment to us (32), we are not just conquerors but MORE THAN conquerors transforming bad stuff into God glorifying good stuff (37) and of course, because of Jesus, nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from His love (39).
We're tempted not to believe these truths. We're tempted to believe that other things are necessary: money, health, nice kids, successful career, the acceptance of others, dramatic spiritual experiences, romantic relationships, food, fruitful Christian service, being "right"....we're tempted to believe that these things aren't just nice but essential.
Of course we need Jesus.....but we're tempted to believe that in actual fact we've got to have these other things (delete as appropriate) - just look at how you react when you face the prospect of not having these.....follow the trajectory of your day dreams and nightmares......
Jesus + Nothing = Everything
And because we're inclined to forget that we've got all we need in Christ (see Romans 8) we need to continually rehearse these great truths and promises.
We need to be reading our Bibles.
It's not that we just "ought" to read them, "Jesus read His Bible so we should read the Bible". That kind of Sunday School moralism is death. We have to read our Bibles so that we can see Jesus. We have to read to see that He is precious beyond all things and that He is enough. I have to read my Bible and I have to be under God's Word preached regularly because without it I forget and I buy the lie that says Jesus is enough for me. And that's not true however much it feels true (and sometimes it does feel very true).
Jesus is sufficient and I need to fight the fight of faith to believe this, knowing that as I trust God's Word, hearing it with faith, the Holy Spirit shows up in power (Galatians 3:5) and enables me to see Christ and all His glorious sufficiency (2 Cor. 4:4).
Jesus + Nothing = Everything
Monday, 24 December 2012
Sorrowful, Yet Always Rejoicing
I love the phrase "sorrowful yet always rejoicing". It speaks to me so clearly of the nature of the Christian life and I'd like it as a banner across my own life and the life of my church. As we walk through this broken, fallen world, where we only see the first fruits of the age to come breaking in from time to time (O that we would see more of the "now" in the midst of the "not yet") - there is sorrow. There just is. There is pain and sadness and you have to perform all manner of interpretive gymnastics with the Bible in order to be able to say otherwise. And yet....and yet there is another reality - there is rejoicing. We rejoice because God in Christ has come to us to hold us, lift us and ultimately save us. So we rejoice even in the midst of the trials because of the Good News that God is for us and that He has delivered us, He is delievering us and He will deliver is.
This blog post from Trillia Newbell describes her perspective on this twin theme of joy and pain.
I have walked this earth a short 34 years, but in that time I have experienced a wide range of various trials. As a young child my parents struggled financially resulting in the occasional electricity being shut off and visits to a relative’s home. During my freshman year of college I was the victim of sexual assault (not rape thankfully). A few months later my father passed away from his battle with cancer. As a young adult I have experienced four miscarriages, general health issues, and recently the sudden loss of my oldest sister.
And yet, I am joyful; but not without sorrow.
Real Pain
Trials of any kind bring a rush of emotions and potentially pain. The pain is real. The sorrow is real. Trials are hard to endure at times. God never once promised this Christian life would be without trials. On the contrary, as it has been said before, all one needs to do is live long enough and surely trials will arrive.
Thankfully we have a Savior who relates to our suffering. Jesus is aware of and acquainted with the grief of man. He is acquainted with my grief and your grief. The God-Man endured trials and temptation but is without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He faced agony to the point of sweating blood (Luke 22:44).
On his way to the cross Jesus sat and prayed to his Father, if it were God’s will, to take the cup of His wrath away. And yet we know that Jesus willingly drank that cup and he hung on the cross. And in his final moments on the cross, Mark records him saying, “’Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Mark 15:34).
His pain and suffering was for a purpose — the redemption of the world. He endured great pain. Pain I can only imagine, pain and wrath on my behalf.
Purposeful Pain
Like Jesus — our pain has a purpose. The believer knows that there’s a great and glorious purpose in trials. Suffering is designed to purify our faith. Peter comforted the Christians in Asia Minor by reminding them (thus reminding me) of the great purpose of suffering. He writes, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith — more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire — may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6–7).
Any trial or suffering I endure is a testing of the genuineness of my faith. And in The Suffering of Man and the Sovereignty of God, Charles Spurgeon addresses the genuine faith of Job tested by fire and how his faith only reflects the faith that we all desire to have. He writes, “In what better way can the believer reveal his loyalty to his Lord? He evidently follows his Master, not in fair weather only, but in the foulest and roughest ways” (121).
The beauty of faith is that it isn’t derived from me. God graciously gives me faith to believe his promises to sustain me to the end. He gives me faith to trust that he is with me in my days of trouble. All good things, including the faith to endure trails is from him (James 1:17). So though trials may come, I can be confident that he will give me the sustaining grace for them.
And I Rejoice
I can rejoice in suffering because I know I have a living hope. I know that my hope will bring me to an eternal glory. I will one day rise and be with Christ forever. I can rejoice in suffering today because I know that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put me to shame, because God's love has been poured into my heart through the Holy Spirit who has been given to me (Romans 5:3–5).
So though I have experienced various trials, my hope is in Christ. I rejoice during these trials in my living hope, knowing that nothing — no great trial, no pain or sorrow, and no one — shall separate me from the love of God.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.'
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35–39)
This blog post from Trillia Newbell describes her perspective on this twin theme of joy and pain.
I have walked this earth a short 34 years, but in that time I have experienced a wide range of various trials. As a young child my parents struggled financially resulting in the occasional electricity being shut off and visits to a relative’s home. During my freshman year of college I was the victim of sexual assault (not rape thankfully). A few months later my father passed away from his battle with cancer. As a young adult I have experienced four miscarriages, general health issues, and recently the sudden loss of my oldest sister.
And yet, I am joyful; but not without sorrow.
Real Pain
Trials of any kind bring a rush of emotions and potentially pain. The pain is real. The sorrow is real. Trials are hard to endure at times. God never once promised this Christian life would be without trials. On the contrary, as it has been said before, all one needs to do is live long enough and surely trials will arrive.
Thankfully we have a Savior who relates to our suffering. Jesus is aware of and acquainted with the grief of man. He is acquainted with my grief and your grief. The God-Man endured trials and temptation but is without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He faced agony to the point of sweating blood (Luke 22:44).
On his way to the cross Jesus sat and prayed to his Father, if it were God’s will, to take the cup of His wrath away. And yet we know that Jesus willingly drank that cup and he hung on the cross. And in his final moments on the cross, Mark records him saying, “’Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Mark 15:34).
His pain and suffering was for a purpose — the redemption of the world. He endured great pain. Pain I can only imagine, pain and wrath on my behalf.
Purposeful Pain
Like Jesus — our pain has a purpose. The believer knows that there’s a great and glorious purpose in trials. Suffering is designed to purify our faith. Peter comforted the Christians in Asia Minor by reminding them (thus reminding me) of the great purpose of suffering. He writes, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith — more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire — may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6–7).
Any trial or suffering I endure is a testing of the genuineness of my faith. And in The Suffering of Man and the Sovereignty of God, Charles Spurgeon addresses the genuine faith of Job tested by fire and how his faith only reflects the faith that we all desire to have. He writes, “In what better way can the believer reveal his loyalty to his Lord? He evidently follows his Master, not in fair weather only, but in the foulest and roughest ways” (121).
The beauty of faith is that it isn’t derived from me. God graciously gives me faith to believe his promises to sustain me to the end. He gives me faith to trust that he is with me in my days of trouble. All good things, including the faith to endure trails is from him (James 1:17). So though trials may come, I can be confident that he will give me the sustaining grace for them.
And I Rejoice
I can rejoice in suffering because I know I have a living hope. I know that my hope will bring me to an eternal glory. I will one day rise and be with Christ forever. I can rejoice in suffering today because I know that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put me to shame, because God's love has been poured into my heart through the Holy Spirit who has been given to me (Romans 5:3–5).
So though I have experienced various trials, my hope is in Christ. I rejoice during these trials in my living hope, knowing that nothing — no great trial, no pain or sorrow, and no one — shall separate me from the love of God.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.'
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35–39)
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
The Slaughter of Innocence
This post from a guy I was at college with, Brian Draper, makes a really important point about the nature of evil in the world and the impact of the the incarnation. ‘The coming of Jesus was... a dangerous mission, a great invasion, a daring raid into enemy territory.' (John Eldredge). It's a reminder that Christmas is about cosmic warfare, barbed wire and bullets if you will, and not just a season for sentimentality.
When Herod realised that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.’
Matthew 2:16-17
Lest we forget, one episode of the Christmas story is always written out of the school plays. In fact, the good news of great joy to all people spelled near immediate disaster for parents in Bethlehem, whose little boys were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once the Magi had given Herod the slip, he tried, in evil fury, to snuff out the threat of a newborn King of the Jews. Scholars believe that in a town of around 1,000, such as Bethlehem was back then, there’d have been around 20 children killed.
20 children.
John Eldredge reminds us that humanity is a battleground. ‘I am staggered,’ he writes, ‘by the level of naivety that most people live with regarding evil. They don’t take it seriously. They don’t live as if the story has a Villain. Not the devil prancing about in red tights, carrying a pitchfork, but the incarnation of the very worst of every enemy you’ve met in every other story. Dear God – the Holocaust, child prostitution, terrorist bombings, genocidal governments. What is it going to take for us to take evil seriously?’
‘One of the things that surprised me,’ wrote C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity, ‘when I first read the New Testament seriously was that it talked so much about a Dark Power in the universe – a mighty evil spirit who was held to be the Power behind death, disease, and sin... Christianity agrees... this is a universe at war.’
We are painfully, dreadfully reminded – since the events of last week in Newtown, Connecticut – that the advent of Christ is not, in fact, a kitsch nativity scene in a mall in mid-winter; nor a sentimental moment for the kids to shine, as the star, or Mary, or Joseph, in the play, lovely though that is... but a crucial moment in a battle played out both on a cosmic scale and in our own hearts. ‘The coming of Jesus was... a dangerous mission,’ says Eldredge, ‘a great invasion, a daring raid into enemy territory.’
And lest we forget, advent has nothing to do with the triumph of religion, nor the vindication of our own belief system, but the incarnation of the very best of every hero we’ve met in every other story, fighting for us. Dear God – what is it going to take for us to take this seriously?
Dear God. Dear God.
Brian Draper
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