BibleTag Archive -
Hearing the Word of God on Sunday Morning
Wisdom from John Piper on Ten Practical Preparations for Hearing the Word of God on Sunday Morning:
1. Pray that God would give you a good and honest heart.
The heart we need is a work of God. That’s why we pray for it. Ezekiel 36:26, “I will give you a new heart.” Jeremiah 24:7, “I will give them a heart to know Me.” Let’s pray, “O Lord, give me a heart for you. Give me a good and honest heart. Give me a soft and receptive heart. Give me a humble and meek heart. Give me a fruitful heart.”
2. Meditate on the Word of God.
Psalm 34:8, “O taste and see that the LORD is good.” On Saturday night read some delicious portion of your Bible with a view to stirring up hunger for God. This is the appetizer for Sunday morning’s meal.
3. Purify your mind by turning away from worldly entertainment.
James 12:1, “Putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.” It astonishes me how many Christians watch the same banal, empty, silly, trivial, titillating, suggestive, immodest TV shows that most unbelievers watch. This makes us small and weak and worldly and inauthentic in worship. Instead, turn off the television on Saturday night and read something true and great and beautiful and pure and honorable and excellent and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8). Your heart will unshrivel and be able to feel greatness again.
4. Trust in the truth that you already have.
The hearing of the word of God that fails during trial has no root (Luke 8:13). What is the root we need? It is trust. Jeremiah 17:7-8 says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose trust is the LORD. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream.” Trusting in the truth you already have is the best way to prepare yourself to receive more.
5. Rest long enough Saturday night to be alert and hopeful Sunday morning.
1 Corinthians 6:12, “All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything.” I am not laying down any law here. I am saying there are Saturday night ways that ruin Sunday morning worship. Don’t be enslaved by them. Without sufficient sleep, our minds are dull, our emotions are flat, our proneness to depression is higher, and our fuses are short. My counsel decide when you must get up on Sunday in order to have time to eat, get dressed, pray and meditate on the Word, prepare the family, and travel to church; and then compute backward eight hours and be sure that you are in bed 15 minutes before that. Read your Bible in bed and fall asleep with the Word of God in your mind. I especially exhort parents to teach teenagers that Saturday is NOT the night to stay out late with friends. If there is a special late night, make it Friday. It is a terrible thing to teach children that worship is so optional that it doesn’t matter if you are exhausted when you come.
6. Forebear one another Sunday morning without grumbling and criticism.
Psalm 106:25, “They grumbled in their tents; they did not listen to the voice of the LORD.” Sunday morning grumbling and controversy and quarreling can ruin a worship service for a family. When there is something you are angry about or some conflict that you genuinely think needs to be talked about, forebear. Of course if you are clearly the problem and need to apologize, do it as quickly as you can (Matthew 5:23-24). But if you are fuming because of children or spouse delinquency, forebear, that is, be slow to anger and quick to listen (James 1:19). In worship open yourself to God’s exposing the log in your own eye. It may be that all of you will be humbled and chastened so that no conflict is necessary.
7. Be meek and teachable when you come.
James 12:1 “In meekness receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.” Meekness and teachability are not gullibility. You have your Bible and you have your brain. Use them. But if we come with a chip on our shoulder and a suspicion of the preaching week after week, we will not hear the Word of God. Meekness is a humble openness to God’s truth with a longing to be changed by it.
8. Be still as you enter the room and focus your mind’s attention and heart’s affection on God.
Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.” As we enter the sanctuary, let us “come on the lookout for God and leave on the lookout for people.” Come with a quiet passion to seek God and his power. We will not be an unfriendly church if we are aggressive in our pursuit of God during the prelude and aggressive in our pursuit of visitors during the postlude.
9. Think earnestly about what is sung and prayed and preached.
1 Corinthians 14:20, “Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature”. So Paul says to Timothy, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (2 Timothy 2:7). Anything worth hearing is worth thinking about. If you would take heed how you hear, think about what you hear.
10. Desire the Truth of God’s Word more than you desire riches or food.
1 Peter 2:2 “Like newborn babies, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.” As you sit quietly and pray and meditate on the text and the songs, remind yourself of what Psalm 19:10-11 says about the Words of God “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
(via Ad Fontes)
Surprised By Grace
In Surprised by Grace Tullian Tchividjian shows readers that the message of Jonah goes beyond Nineveh. Check out the trailer for Tullian’s new book below:
(via JT)
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What does God’s sovereignty in the salvation of men imply?
Last week, I began a series of breaking down Jonathan Edwards piece, The Sovereignty of God in Salvation. I’m going to continue to touch on some major points in this great resource that will hopefully help humble us and appreciate all that God has done in our own salvation.
In this part of the series, Edwards ask the question, “What does God’s sovereignty in the salvation of men imply?”
Scripture tells us that God’s gracious atonement applies to the elect in a unique, particular way, although the death of Christ is sufficient to propitiate the sins of the whole world. The death of Christ effectually accomplished the salvation for all God’s people. We see this clearly in scripture:
Eph. 5:25, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”
Heb. 10:14, “By a single offering he perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
John 10:15, “I lay down my life for the sheep.”
Rom. 8:32, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?”
God exercised His sovereignty in making these declarations. God was not obligated to promise that He would save all who believe in Christ; nor was He obligated to declare, that He who committed the sin against the Holy Spirit would never be forgiven. But it pleased Him to declare these things. And if God had not been pleased to obligate Himself in these cases, He could have still either bestowed salvation, or refused it, without dishonor to any of His attributes.
To some this seems very troubling and hard to accept, however, Edwards explains how this does not dishonor God by stating:
“If there would have been any dishonor, to any of God’s attributes by bestowing or refusing to give salvation, then God would not in that matter act as absolutely sovereign…For God cannot do any thing that would dishonor any of His attributes, or be contrary to what is in itself excellent and glorious.”
He may have mercy on whom He will have mercy. He may have mercy on the greatest of sinners, if He pleases, and the glory of none of His attributes will dishonored in the least. Such is the sufficiency of the satisfaction and righteousness of Christ, that none of the divine attributes stand in the way of the salvation of any of them. Thus the glory of any attribute did not at all suffer by Christ’s saving some of those that crucified Him.
Lastly, Jonathan Edwards gives us four main points as to what God’s sovereignty in the salvation of men imply:
1. God may save anyone He pleases, without prejudice to the honor of His holiness.
“God is infinitely holy. But God can save the greatest sinner without giving the least approval of sin. If he saves one, who for a long time has resisted the calls of the gospel; if he saves one who, fighting against the truth, has been a pirate or blasphemer, He may do it without giving any support to their wickedness; because His abhorrence of it and displeasure against it have already been sufficiently manifested in the sufferings of Christ.”
2. God may save any man, woman, or child without prejudice to the honor of His majesty.
“No matter how much men have insulted God, no matter how much contempt they have shown to His authority; still God can save them, if He pleases, and the honor of His majesty does not suffer in the least. The sufferings of Christ do, in fact, fully repair the injury.”
3. God may save any sinner whatsoever consistent with His justice.
“The justice of God requires the punishment of sin. By the sufferings of Christ, in which sin was fully punished, and justice satisfied. Christ suffered enough for the punishment of the sins of the greatest sinner that ever lived. So that God, when He judges, may act according to a rule of strict justice, and yet acquit the sinner, if the sinner is in Christ. Justice cannot require any more for any man’s sins, than those sufferings which Christ suffered. Romans 3:25-26. “God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice; so He may be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
4. God can save any sinner whatsoever, without any prejudice to the honor of His truth.
“For sin is punished in the sufferings of Christ, inasmuch as He is our representative, and so is legally the same person, and sustained our guilt, and in His sufferings bore our punishment.”
We are dependent not only on His wisdom to arrange a way to accomplish it, and on His power to bring it to pass, but we are also dependent on His mere will and pleasure in the matter. We depend on the sovereign will of God for everything belonging to it, from the foundation to the very top. It was because of the sovereign pleasure of God, that He designed a way to save some of mankind, and gave us Jesus Christ, His one and only Son, to be our Redeemer.
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You Can’t Run From God
The Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea. Jonah 1:4
The lot fell on Jonah. Jonah 1:7
The Lord appointed a great fish. Jonah 1:17
The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. Jonah 3:1
The Lord God appointed a plant. Jonah 4:6
God appointed a worm. Jonah 4:7
God appointed a scorching east wind. Jonah 4:8
The Lord has more ways of confronting me than I have ways of evading him.
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What Is The Gospel?
One of the most profound questions a person can ask. It is also one of the questions as believers we better have an answer!
Greg Gilbert provides a great resource for us to better understand the Gospel so that we can be better missional believers within our communities. Check out his short introduction of the book below:
You can purchase the book here:
The Wrath Of God
There is nothing more terrifying to a sinner than God.
Romans 1:18-19
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be m known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.”
For the past two months I have been doing the Discipleship Reading Plan where I will read the entire Bible this year. This month I will be spending some time in Romans. I love the book of Romans and have a great love for Paul and his ministry.
Today’s readings brought to my attention the wrath of God.
Whenever we sin, since we are a fallen and corrupt people by nature, it is the sin of idolatry. The sin of refusing to honor God as he is. We look towards other things in this world as our gods and with our lives we preach that we love these things like pornography, greed, and ourselves more than God.
People say God is a God of love, not a God of wrath, but that is not the God of Scripture. The God of love revealed in Scripture is also angry with sin.
We cannot embrace the attributes of God that make us comfortable and reject the rest. When we do that, we join in with the rest of humanity and suppress the truth of God and refuse to honor him as God!
In Romans 1:18-19, Paul reveals the wrath of God. As Christians we can fully appreciate the good news as good when this good news is an announcement to people who universally are under the indictment of God and exposed to his wrath.
Most people are not concerned with the Gospel since they do not understand the revelation of God’s wrath. R.C. Sproul preaches about God’s wrath stating, “If people were sensitive to the manifestation of God’s anger toward them, they would be so moved by enlightened self-interest that they would flee as fast as they could to hear the gospel, but their necks have become so hardened, their hearts so calcified, that they have no fear of God.”
Based on some peoples lives, they do not believe in God’s wrath; they think he is incapable of it. This could be because they listen to preachers everywhere tell them that God loves them unconditionally, and when they hear that, they see no reason to fear his wrath
Verse 18 reminds us that it is perfectly appropriate for a holy and righteous God to be moved to anger against evil. A judge with no distaste for evil would not be a good judge. Paul is telling us that God is angry/furious with sin!
God is holy and loving. Therefore, his anger and wrath towards our sin and human wickedness is expressed for good reason. God displays his “power and divine nature” throughout all of creation and we reject it.
Now to return to the first sentence of this post, “there is nothing more terrifying to a sinner than God”, we see the biblical evidence of this on the Sea of Galilee when the storm came while the disciples were in the boat. Jesus was asleep and the disciples were afraid. They went to him and woke Jesus up saying,
“Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’ Jesus arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still!’ The wind ceased and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:38-39″
You would think the disciples first response was to thank Jesus for calming the storm. Instead, the disciples became very much afraid. Their fears were intensified, and they said to one another, “Who this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” (v. 41)
The holiness of Christ was made manifest in that boat, and suddenly the disciples’ fear escalated. We must fear God and understand that God is a holy judge whose wrath will come upon us if we do not submit to Him.
Christ loves you. But those who reject Him will face his wrath. I pray you repent and believe!
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Avatar And Christianity
Last week, pastor Mark Driscoll spent a few minutes preaching on how Avatar is an advertisement for paganism. Here is the clip from his sermon.
A month ago, pastor John Piper very briefly mentioned that Avatar is boring in his sermon in this clip below.
The point that I’m wanting to make is the difference between Mark Driscoll and John Piper is that when it comes to sermons Mark Driscoll is a UFC fighter and John Piper is a ninja. When we look at how Avatar was discussed in these sermons I find Pastor John’s comment on Avatar more powerful than Pastor Mark’s rant. I love how Pastor John illustrates how Avatar does not even compare to the Bible, therefore there is no need to rant about how ridiculous of a movie it is we just need to make it known that AVATAR is BORING compared to the powerful Word of God!
What do you think??
The Christian Message Is All About Joy!
This weekend I’m excited to be leading a breakout session for high school students on how God commands us to have complete satisfaction and joy in Him for the sake of His glory! We must understand the implication of God being glorified by hearts that are on fire for him, and delight in him, and are satisfied in him, and take joy in him, and savor him then you must pursue joy in God.
However, if you pursue pleasure in doing a good deed or in worship, you contaminate it and turn it into reward seeking, which has now become the new movement amongst young people. But if you buy what these emergent thinkers are considering, you can neither worship God nor love people as you ought. Or to put it positively, the very essence of worship and the essence of doing those goods deeds is because of your joy in God for His glory not yours.
Jesus’ aim in all he taught was the joy of his people.
- John 15:11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
Joy is what God fills us with when we trust in Christ.
- Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.
The kingdom of God is joy.
- Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Joy is the fruit of God’s Spirit within us.
- Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.
Joy is the aim of everything the apostles did and wrote.
- 2 Corinthians 1:24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy.
Becoming a Christian is finding a joy that makes you willing to forsake everything.
- Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”
Joy is nourished and sustained by the word of God in the Bible
- Psalm 19:8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.
Joy will overtake all sorrow for those who trust Christ.
- Psalm 126:5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!
- Psalm 30:5b Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
God himself is our joy.
- Psalm 43:4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy.
- Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Joy in God outstrips all earthly joy.
- Psalm 4:7 You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
If your joy is in God, no one can take your joy from you.
- John 16:22 You have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
God calls all nations and peoples to join in the joy he offers to all who believe. No racism. No ethnocentrism.
- Psalm 67:4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy.
- Psalm 66:1 Shout for joy to God, all the earth.
The whole Christian message from beginning to end is good news of great joy.
- Luke 2:10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people.”
- Isaiah 51:11 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
When we meet Christ at his second coming we will enter into his indestructible joy.
- Matthew 25:23 His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant. . . . Enter into the joy of your master.”
