Ferguson On Prodigals

I love this paragraph from Sinclair Ferguson's larger discussion of the Parable of the Lost Son in Luke 15:

"Although this story is probably the best known and loved of all Christ's parables, the lesson it teaches us as Christians is often overlooked. Jesus was underling the fact that - despite assumptions to the contrary - the reality of the love of God for us is often the last thing in the world to dawn upon us. As we fix our eyes upon ourselves, our past failures, our present guilt, it seems impossible to us that the Father could love us." ~ excerpted from Children of the Living God

As for me, I spend too much time introspecting, and not nearly enough time dwelling on the affection of my heavenly Father.

Moment of Salvation

John Piper, on the mysterious co-working of God's sovereignty and human will that brings about our regeneration:

"Our first experience of this is the faith in Jesus that this life brings. There is no separation of time here. When we are born again, we believe. And when we believe, we know we have been born again. When there is fire, there is heat. When there is new birth, there is faith."

"Your act of believing and God's act of begetting are simultaneous. he does the begetting and you do the believing at the same instant. And - this is very important - His doing is the decisive cause of your doing. His begetting is the decisive cause of your believing."

"The instant there is fire, there is heat. The instant there is fire, there is light. But we would not say that the heat caused the fire, or the light caused the fire. We say that the fire caused the heat and the light." ~ John Piper, Finally Alive

Those Pesky, Repetitive Songs

Don't you hate those worship songs that repeat the same lines over and over and over again?

Oh wait. Psalm 136.

Legally Adopted

"We are born into God's family through the work of the Spirit. But we are also brought into that family by a decisive, legal act on God's part. The apostle Paul thought this latter dimension illuminated Christian experience, and he used the concept of adoption to describe it."

~ Sinclair Ferguson, Children Of The Living God

Nothingness In God's Name

From The World Tilting Gospel by Dan Phillips:

"Some professing Christians are naturally indolent, lazy, retiring, introspective, self-involved, perhaps even selfish - and the rotten teaching they get magnifies and calcifies those tendencies. They refuse to trust and obey; they feel no need to try and to dare and to engage. Worse, they do all this nothingness in the name of the Lord."

Emphasis on "rotten teaching". . . let's hear it for solid, Biblical preaching.

Suffer Greater

"Be so brave, and so longsuffering in hope, that when inward comfort is withdrawn, you may prepare your heart to suffer even greater things." ~ Thomas a Kempis.

When All Is Overboard

"Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” After [Paul] said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. Altogether there were 276 of us on board. When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea. ~ from Acts 27

You have to demonstrate hope. In the face of a fearful storm, in the face of death, in the face of loss, when the last of the food is thrown overboard, will you be the one standing with hope when EVERYTHING else that EVERYONE else trusts in is gone? You can, because your life isn’t based on those other things and your hope isn’t grounded on such transitory cargo. The person of the world has no hope apart from the things of this world. You however, are of a different sort. "A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions," Jesus said. We have a hope that is otherworldly.

Chalice

I'm almost certain I've posted this song before, but I'm not even gonna look at the archives, because it's too good to not share it again...

This is one of Phil Keaggy's greatest songs. No really. Every time (literally, EVERY time) I hear it, it reaches through my ribs, grabs a handful of my heart and twists. It's poignant, powerful and beautiful.

Musically, the chord structure is pretty simple (with standard tuning, he throws on a capo to play in G and sound in B), but the melody is creative, and the surprising moments like at 1:33 make it all the more delightful.

Overboard

Don't toss over the good stuff!

On the storm tossed Mediterranean, the crew of Paul's "taxi" to Rome was forced to get rid of their extra cargo in order to lighten the ship. This had the effect of allowing the vessel to ride higher on the angry waves and escape some of the beating and swamping of the sea. They had to let stuff go or they'd have been wrecked in the middle of the sea.

When life gets crazy and the sun has disappeared and you're dazed and cold and confused, you tend to let things go. Your job performance goes down the tubes, relationships get neglected and can go sour, you might start overeating again, or lose your appetite altogether. These are just a few of the things that get "thrown overboard" in the storm. There is even cargo more vital these items that often gets jettisoned when the waves start to crash: things like the time we've carved out for prayer and the Word. Haven't you ever let these precious items slide over the rail when the weather got bad in your life?

So what is the deal? Why are so quick to let the valuable stuff go overboard? Yes, the crew of the ship on which Paul and Luke were sailing to Rome ended up getting rid of the extra weight of their tackle, lifeboat, and even their grain. But those were things they could do without, and with Paul's urging, they did NOT cut loose their hope in God.

In the worst of life's circumstances, don't toss out the good stuff. Hold on to hope, to God's precious Word, and to prayer.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. ~ Psalm 73:26

Ahhhh...Fair Havens

We moved along the coast with difficulty and came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea. Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Day of Atonement. So Paul warned them, “Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also.” But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship. Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided that we should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter there. This was a harbor in Crete, facing both southwest and northwest. Acts 27:8-12

Don't let the name fool you. Fair Havens isn't a dangerous place, but it's not the best place to over-winter, at least according to first century sailors.

But wouldn't it have been better to wait out the winter in Fair Havens instead of enduring two weeks in a hurricane, frozen, soaked, sick, hungry and eventually shipwrecked?

Nope.

It was by the direction of a sovereign God that Paul's ship sailed from Fair Havens into disaster. Before diving further into the wonder of the remainder of this maritime miracle story (which I'll do in the next few days), let us simply begin by understanding that whether our day today is sun filled or stormy, the Hand of our Sovereign is piloting our lives.

When Victory Doesn't Feel Like Victory

Sometimes I think we expect victory to feel differently. If you think about it realistically, victory is something that is won, and winning denotes effort, and effort typically brings fatigue, and fatigue is often accompanied by a loss of some kind (energy, health, life, etc). In short, most objectives are not gained without cost.

So, if you're worn thin right now, tapped out and trying to catch your breath, it might just be a sign that you've won. Now and then I experience the successful end of a spiritual or personal battle and feel absolutely steamrolled.

Can you see the soldier in Ephesians 6, at the end of a long day on defense and offense, standing a little bloodied, certainly a bit weary, but standing nonetheless?

Consider Paul's shipwreck in Acts 27:25-26. The only way to the safety of terra firma was through the foundering of the vessel Paul was on. The island your ship wrecks on just might be your salvation.

Victory may arrive in strange ways, it might not feel like victory, and it will probably come at a cost....but for the one who is leaning hard on the Almighty for deliverance, it will come.

Good News From Far Away

Claudens Michaud is a young man living in Haiti whose greatest hope is to be a pastor. I met him while I was there in the summer of 2011, and was amazed by his knowledge of Scripture and shamed by his love for our Lord. Claudens speaks French Creole, but posts on Facebook in English, and although he doesn't realize it, his updates have encouraged me on numerous occasions. Here's a small sampling:

"I had a great time worship in my church tonite love u father God"
"I am preparing to go to follow a seminary teology now thank you lord cuz I slept well"
"Thx lord cuz u are wonderful in my life today"
"Father God protect me to spend a good nite and everyone on facebook too . Thx lord"
"If I am alive this morning its a grace from God love u father God"
"Lord I give u my heart to clean me with ur blood father God"
"I am on way to go to follow word of God in my church today"
"I had a great time worship in my church tonite and I am so blessing I felt presence God in my soul"

Claudens is a rich poor man who has taught me a thing or two about gratitude and joy in the Lord.