Our young people shared this morning their very impacting experience at the Send House in Columbus last week. Regina Yutzy posted some pics of the whole shindig.
Piper on TV
I heard a crazy stat recently: The average American somehow finds time to watch 35 hours of tv per week. That can’t be! If that’s an average…somebody is not doing much else.
I’m not opposed to television or movies. I love stories! I think we all do. But I found Dr. Piper’s views interesting and challenging. I definitely agree about the danger of viewing sexually provocative material – especially for men who seem to be so visuallywired sexually. One pushback is this: Critiquing film is like critiquing talking or print – the message is the critical issue, not the medium. With that in mind…
Give it a read and tell me what you think.
David’s Legacy (2) – Courage
1.) We all have to face our fears to become the person Christ made us to be.
2.) Our Goliath is unique to us, and so is our God-given weaponry.
3.) Momentum is Socially Transferred, for good or bad. We can en-courage or dis-courage others by strengthening their faith or unbelief.
4.) Lions and Bears come before the Giants…We build courage on the foundation of previous obedience to do the scary but right thing.
5.) Three Agents of Dis-Couragement: I.) Threats – Goliath II.) Criticism: Eliab III.) Naysaying: Saul
6.) The Spirit, Faith, and Courage are Connected.
7.) Faith moves mountains…and makes martyrs (Hebrews 11).
8.) The Lord Saves. Yeshua. Jesus. The Battle Belongs to the Lord.
9.) The Ultimate Courage: The Courage to Love.
David’s Legacy (1) – The School of Suffering
The reason I want to be careful about the question at the end of the message is that my question may imply that God did a better job fathering David than Saul. This implies that Saul’s unfaithfulness may somehow be God’s fault – which is clearly wrong. Upon further reflection, it actually seems like the tests that Saul failed were probably his God-ordained trials intended to shape and incline his heart Godward.
Also, David’s faith and heart for God weren’t necessarily born in the places of pain (he had them at an early age!), but they were surely strengthened and matured in those times because of his responsiveness to God in and through them. And it wasn’t a youthful arrogance that needed to be broken – his bold faith didn’t need subtraction, but rather addition. Perhaps God was adding a kind of softness and mercy. This reminds me of what Peter exhorts…
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
(2Pe 1:3-7 NIV)
Final point: David repents well. He trembles at God’s word. He’s able to see God’s mercy and thus fall in love with God even more deeply after he’s sinned. This is helpful for me in my New Covenant vantage point where mercy shines so much more brightly. I fail so often, but in the mercy of God it gives me a new vantage point to receive the forgiveness Christ purchased with his blood, and to experience afresh my total dependence on Jesus’ surprising love for me…
Thoughts?
Honor the Treasure in the Clay Jar
I am greatly indebted to Pastor Mark Driscoll for the categories of Positive, Negative, and Neutral that appear in this message. I also leaned on Pastor Bill Johnson and John Bevere for insights into the biblical principle of honor.
Danger
“We have somehow got hold of the idea that error is only that which is outrageously wrong; and we do not seem to understand that the most dangerous person of all is the one who does not emphasize the right things.”
–D. M. Lloyd-Jones
The love you had at first
1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands:
2 “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. 3 I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary.
4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
5 Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
6 Yet this is to your credit: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.”
(Rev 2:1-7 NRSV)
The Bullseye
The Apostolic Perspective
- The death and resurrection of Jesus is the interpretive key to understanding the incarnation, life and ministry of Jesus.
- The story of Jesus understood as cross-centered (Cruciform) is the interpretive key to understanding the whole OT story of the cosmos, and especially, the covenantal history of Israel.
- All other questions and concerns on secondary or tertiary issues ought to be understood in proper relationship to this Gospel core.
Thanks to Dr. Lester Ruth, of Asbury Theological Seminary, for the kernel of thought that forms the basis of this message. His class on worship was one of the brightest spots of my time in seminary. Thank you sir for your rich teaching.
At the end of the message, the team did this drama for us. Thank you so very much! I wanted to get up and shout “That’s my Jesus! He did that for me!”
