February 2012
3 posts
I see the King of Glory coming on the clouds with...
I am still doing my Bible in a year plan, and I just came upon Luke 21:28-end of that chapter, where it is talking about the second coming.
I remember a sermon my pastor did on the second coming. He made an illustration with comparing Christ to a dog (hear me out, haha). He said, when you see a dog running towards you, you can have two different reactions. Either you are terrified and you run...
Sermons
So for the past week and a half I have been listening to two John Piper sermons a day. This is mostly because my drive to work is 33 minutes each way and his older sermons tend to be about 32 minutes long.
I have been learning so much, and something I heard today that really encouraged me was that God is faithful to keep our salvation …. That I can trust in His faithfulness. Sometimes I...
January 2012
4 posts
mikeclevenger:
“What is the best safeguard against false doctrine? The Bible: the Bible regularly read, regularly prayed over, regularly studied.”
J.C. Ryle
Love this
Third, if your pastor is (honestly) dull, but he preaches the truth faithfully, a little statement I once heard might be helpful for you to remember: “The mature worshiper is easily edified.” When hearing lackluster (even if biblical) preaching, immature worshipers will typically not listen to the message because they wish the messenger was more exciting. Conversely, mature worshipers...
December 2011
8 posts
Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards.
I will adopt some.. or just delight in his writing of them:
14. Resolved, never to do anything out of revenge.
16. Resolved, never to speak evil of anyone, so that it shall tend to his dishonor, more or less, upon no account except for some real good.
58. Resolved, not only to refrain from an air of dislike, fretfulness, and anger in conversation, but to exhibit an air of love, cheerfulness ...
Lord God, why are You patient with me? Why do You love me? Why have You saved me? I don’t get it. I can’t understand it. I mess up so much Lord. I can’t get anything right. Why have You done so much for me? I just want to repent, be done with sin, but it still haunts me. This indwelling sin won’t let me go. And no matter how much I want to be better it lingers. Lord how can...
“Sadly, it is too common for churches not to speak of Jesus, which is a tragedy...”
– Mark Driscoll
I read Indwelling Sin by John Owen,
A Puritan theologian, brilliant man. I studied the book with Sarah for months, along with Romans 7 and 8, the chapters the book was based on. I often felt hopeless. This life is about repenting, turning from sin and believing in Jesus. His grace covers us, but we must strive to fight sin everyday out of our love for Him. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit sanctifies us. But we will never be fully perfect...
Prayer
I love Prayer Night. I love praying with the body of Christ. I love praying Scripture over people’s lives. I love rejoicing in the promises of Christ. I love singing worship with our core group. I love treasuring Jesus.
Prayer night gives me hope for the future of God’s people, even when it seems like Christ is left out of church things sometimes. Prayer Night reminds me that God is...
November 2011
4 posts
“Sam Crabtree said to me once, “The danger of the contemporary worship...”
– John Piper
October 2011
25 posts
Happy Reformation Day...
Today is the day when Martin Luther changed Christianity. It became about God and not about us. It went back to the Bible instead of what we think we can add to it.
“You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the play and the...”
– G.K. Chesterton
“For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for His name in serving the saints, as you still do.” -Hebrews 6:10
Wow. Evidence of a regenerate heart. Do I have evidence? I serve, but do I love?
Remember when?
Remember when Dina had bangs?
Remember freshman year theory class when we used to sit on the floor and take pictures?
Remember when Bell got fired?
Remember when I loved marimba…
Remember when we used to wait for stir-fry?
Remember when we lived on the hill?
Remember when we used to wait for those walks?
Remember the late movie nights?
Remember when we used to order in and talk about...
David Wells in God in the Wasteland, ”If God is at the center of worship, one has to wonder why there is so much surrounding the center that is superfluous to true worship—indeed, counterproductive to it.”
“Nadab and Abihu died because they made a bad judgment call in their ministry. They were innovative rather than submissive, and by so doing they publically diminished the holiness, the separateness, the otherness of God. That was sinful.”
Sin is not all about motives.
Reading an incredible blog post from
Grace To You.
“I’ll go on record as saying I think what Perry Noble did was a sin. It doesn’t have to do with his motives (God knows and judges motives, not me; 1 Cor. 4:5). “
Man… So good.
Thinking about Jesus..
Yesterday, at the Prayer Meeting, during repentance, I heard a common theme among the members. Asking forgiveness for not thinking about or acknowledging God during the day.
But I think about Him all the time. I think about Jesus, about grace, about all of this all the time.
But sometimes, I don’t feel any different. Sometimes, I don’t see my sanctification. Sometimes, I think...
Gabe and Danielle
desires-of-your-heart:
doveandsparrow:
I photographed Gabe, Danielle and their little one, Oliver, in their super cute apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Besides being crazy adorable, they have impeccable taste. We spent the day taking a short-tour of their favorite weekend activiites; Brooklyn Smorgasbord, walk the Wiliamsburg Bridge, and a relaxing neighborhood bike ride.
Me Vova and...
“The whole nature of our relationship with one another is built on this fact – I...”
– Matt Chandler, Gospel-Center Community [sermon]
sigh.
I love listening to sermons.. but sometimes I wonder why every sermon on doubt has to do with the doubt that God knows what He’s doing, or the doubt that God is good, or the doubt that God is in control..
I have never once doubted any of those things. I know my God is good. I know He knows what He’s doing. I know that He’s in control.
What if my past of doubt went deeper, to...
and lastly...
Christianity isn’t about rules, laws, etc. Christianity is about loving Jesus so much that you don’t desire to be a part of the disgusting parts of this world. That instead you love Jesus so much you want others to know about Him, to understand what this sacrifice means, to know that everyone is a sinner so we have to show grace to others out of reverence for God and to glorify Him, to...
Why spiritual warfare?
Why? I was thinking about this today, as I was pondering Caleb’s sermon. I have a lot to think on today, between the sermon, Bible readings, sermons online, blogs (Challies?), conversations, and church administration.
Wow. What is going on? Is this me seeing where the future is headed?
First, I am getting ahead of myself. Let me stop, take a minute, back up, and start from the beginning.
...
“If you want God’s grace, all you need is need, all you need is nothing. But that...”
– Timothy Keller (via getyourhandsoffofmystar)
I should be asleep.
But I went online to find a Mark Driscoll sermon, and then I ended up finding out other news.
A blog I read for about a year, that I found so much inspiration from, well, the author of the blog passed away.
I know this sounds silly to write about. I didn’t know her in real life, right? I knew her in blog-life. I read about her life. Her battle with a painful, debilitating disease. And her...
“and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that...”
– Hebrews 12:24
Sanctification
It’s so strange how sometimes sanctification happens. Like when we fight for it so strongly, it backs off. When we fight for it so strongly, the true repentance seems to elude us as we fail again and again, seemingly falling further into our sin.
And then, when we give up and finally know we cannot do it, we can’t fight our nature, suddenly, grace meets us where we are. The Holy...
A big "What if?" about God for believers...
“In [Romans 9], Paul asks a necessary question: What if?
‘What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of His glory for vessels or mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory?’ (Rom. 9:22-23)
What if? What if God decided to do this? What if...
September 2011
8 posts
7 tags
“All attempts to define God cannot help but minimize Him. If in our pursuit of...”
– Beth Moore
We will never grasp the enormity of God.
(via getyourhandsoffofmystar)
Bonhoeffer
I have been reading “Bonhoeffer,” the biography, by Eric Metaxas. I am only finishing up the first chapter, but I have been learning so much about how I want to parent when I have children. Karl Bonhoeffer, Dietrich’s father, was agnostic, so there’ not much similarity there, but he taught his children to not say anything unless they had something to say. To carefully...
All I know:
The process of sanctification is a long hard road that rarely makes sense at the time.
Living as a gracious Christian is near impossible when you struggle with fear or bitterness.
No person will ever stop being a sinner, so we need to never stop being loving and forgiving.
We spit in Christ’s face daily and yet He still offers hope of restoration through repentance.
...
I’ve had a lot of time to think and pray lately.
I pray about a lot of things. About glorifying God in my job, my house, my friendships, my relationship. I don’t always. I rarely do.
But I’ve come to realize something… That life will never be the way we want it to. It’s always going to be broken. It’s always going to be lost. Until the new heaven and...
Went to a Memorial Service today,
For someone I knew in college. They called it a “Homegoing Service,” which couldn’t have been more fitting. It was nice, the music was beautiful, but one song particularly struck me. It was in French, a Haitian hymn. The English translation went something like this:
“The name of Jesus is so sweet!
Disarming the wrath of God
He calls us to the meeting place
Precious...
Rob Bell vs. Francis Chan.
Got your attention yet?
“Jesus threatens hell to those who curse their brother (Matt. 5:22). He’s not warning drinkers or smokers or murderers. Jesus preaches hellfire against those who have the audacity to attack a fellow human being with harsh words. It’s ironic - frightening, actually - that some people have written books, preached sermons, or written blog posts about hell...