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Life Lessons

Well, How Was Your Trip?

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We have been back nearly two weeks, so we have had a little time to sift through our thoughts and impressions of the trip and how it affected us. Probably the best way to describe what happened is to share how the Lord answered the prayer requests we asked for your help on.

We asked:
-For the Lord to enable us to share about Him as we have the opportunity
Wow, we and the team had at least five separate opportunities to share in group settings with students, both one on one and in groups of three or more. Some deep theological discussions, testimonies, sharing of the gospel, and a variety of other topics were covered. We were able to spend time with several students at meals, on tourist outings, and going to and from events. In many cases their help with translation and transportation was invaluable, especially when Peggy and I left the team for a few days to travel to Xining by train and bus.
-For us to bless and encourage the believers and workers there

 This happened in all four cities that Peggy and I visited. We were able to participate in three different worship groups on two Sundays. All of the M’s working there (a large number were from Oklahoma) expressed gratitude for us coming and for some of the gifts we shared with them. We were greatly blessed and encouraged ourselves by the way they shared their lives and ministries with us. Seeing some of the living situations they are willing to embrace to bring the love of our Lord to students and other people groups was challenging. Our team has received emails of appreciation since we returned also for the impact we had on their ministries.

-For our hearts to be prepared for the trip and also wisdom to know about our future ministry in

China
The Father did prepare us and gave us some direction about returning to China. We have two schools we can teach at in Xining, and some amazing opportunities were shared with us in Xi’an that came about through a network of fellow followers that we did not have any idea about before the trip. At the present only two scenarios would keep us from returning next year – an unexpected decline in our health, or US and China relations really going sour where no visas would be granted. Lord willing we are going back.
-That we will delight in God and declare His glory as we serve those at the schools and also our fellow travelers
The other six members of our team from the Boston area were just delightful. We had participated in a number of skype training sessions with them before we left, but the first time we met them in person was in the Chicago airport on the way to China. Each of them only wanted to glorify the Lord in all that we did in China. We really appreciated our co-leaders, John and Bob, veteran travelers to China with a real heart for students.
-The total cost for our trip is $6,500. Please pray with us that the funds to cover our trip expenses will be provided.Wow again, your generosity overwhelmed us. The quick response time of your giving enabled us to buy our plane tickets early and save some expense there, and then the balance of costs were covered in a timely fashion.

Thank you so much for your prayer and/or financial support. Your intercession with the Father on our behalf resulted in wonderful answers to our requests.

Some verses that really impressed us during this time are:

For Peggy – Psalm 57:2 – I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.

For Gary – Psalm 37:4 – Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Blessings,

Gary & Peggy

Conditioner and What It Reveals About All Of US

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Earlier today I found myself using Conditioner…

I don’t have any hair. Why was I using Conditioner?

What was I thinking?

Apparently, I wasn’t thinking.

How does this even happen?

Do I do ridiculous things like this in other areas of my life?

No conditioner needed

When the conditioner was thought to be needed

First off, Conditioner is that stuff you put on your hair after shampoo-ing so your hair will be all shiny and soft. I clearly have no need for conditioner, but it hasn’t always been this way. I once had a full head of hair. Hair that looked like it came directly off of a romance novel. Hair that blew enchantingly in the wind. Hair that would look great in a discount catalog or picture frame at a store. Those days are gone…So what am I doing throwing conditioner in my, check that, on my head?  The answer:

No one knows. But I think it is symptomatic of something all of us do. Each of us think we are better than we are. Whether consciously or not, we struggle to believe the reality of our situation. We are not talking about hair anymore are we?

Though I have gone to church for a long time, heard the Gospel again and again, I can still forget how I have nothing to offer apart from God. Too often I can try to be good enough or more “christian” instead of relying on the grace God has given. In these moments, I am acting just like the bald guy applying conditioner.  I can apply all I want, but it’s not going to help my hair, because there is no amount of product to help. I can try to add conditioner to my life, try harder, polish up the dirty parts, but no amount of scrubbing will make me any more acceptable to the Lord.This is your story as well, though you may still have an incredible head of hair. Trying to be shiny is entirely different than being made holy. God alone redeems sinners. We can foolishly attempt to apply conditioner, but it won’t help.

To Be A Branch Bearing Much Fruit

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If we are abiding in Jesus, let us begin to work. Let us first seek to influence those around us in daily life. Let us accept distinctly and joyfully our holy calling, that we are even now to live as the servants of the love of Jesus to our fellow-men. Our daily life must have for its object the making of an impression favorable to Jesus. When you look at the branch, you see at once the likeness to the Vine. We must live so that somewhat of the holiness and the gentleness of Jesus may shine out in us. We must live to represent Him. As was the case with Him when on earth, the life must prepare the way for the teaching. What the Church and the world both need is this: men and women full of the Holy Ghost and of love, who, as the living embodiments of the grace and power of Christ, witness for Him, and for His power on behalf of those who believe in Him. Living so, with our hearts longing to have Jesus glorified in the souls He is seeking after, let us offer ourselves to Him for direct work. There is work in our own home. There is work among the sick, the poor, and the outcast. There is work in a hundred different paths which the Spirit of Christ opens up through those who allow themselves to be led by Him. There is work perhaps for us in ways that have not yet been opened up by others. Abiding in Christ, let us work. Let us work, not like those who are content if they now follow the fashion, and take some share in religious work. No; let us work as those who are growing more like Christ, because they are abiding in Him, and who, like Him, count the work of winning souls to the Father the very joy and glory of heaven begun on earth.

If you work, abide in Christ. This is one of the blessings of work if done in the right spirit—it will deepen your union with your blessed Lord. It will discover your weakness, and throw you back on His strength. It will stir you to much prayer; and in prayer for others is the time when the soul, forgetful of itself, unconsciously grows deeper into Christ. It will make clearer to you the true nature of branch-life; its absolute dependence, and at the same time its glorious sufficiency—independent of all else, because dependent on Jesus. If you work, abide in Christ. There are temptations and dangers. Work for Christ has sometimes drawn away from Christ, and taken the place of fellowship with Him. Work can sometimes give a form of godliness without the power. As you work, abide in Christ. Let a living faith in Christ working in you be the secret spring of all your work; this will inspire at once humility and courage. Let the Holy Spirit of Jesus dwell in you as the Spirit of His tender compassion and His divine power. Abide in Christ, and offer every faculty of your nature freely and unreservedly to Him, to sanctify it for Himself. If Jesus Christ is really to work through us, it needs an entire consecration of ourselves to Him, daily renewed. But we understand now, just this is abiding in Christ; just this it is that constitutes our highest privilege and happiness. To be a branch bearing much fruit—nothing less, nothing more—be this our only joy.

Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ (Kindle Edition)

Peace Child

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The life changing story of a family looking to be faithful. Watch and be challenged.

The Sawi were headhunters and cannibals when a young couple named Don and Carol Richardson arrived in their village carrying their seven-month-old boy Steve—and a message that would change the tribe forever. The year was 1962, and Steve—and later, three more children—spent their youth among the Sawi, learning the language and embracing the culture in ways that would shape the rest of their lives. Their story was immortalized in the best-selling book Peace Child and a feature film of the same name, inspiring a new generation to take the gospel to the remaining isolated tribes of the earth.

Fifty years later, Steve joins his father, Don, and two brothers, Shannon and Paul, to visit the Sawi village where they grew up. What is the state of the church they planted among the Sawi? Are the friends they played with still alive? Will anyone remember the mark their family left on the tribe? Journey with Steve as he travels to the swamps of Papua, Indonesia, to introduce you to the Sawi, and explore the impact of the gospel among a previously unreached people group.

– For more information on Pioneers, visit http://www.pioneers.org.
– Check out “Never the Same” on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/neverthesamemovie
– To order “Never the Same” on DVD or Blu-ray Disc, visit http://www.pioneers.org/store.

Music Credits:
“A Beautiful Tale” and “Revival” by Ryan Taubert © 2012 SHOUT! Music Publishing Courtesy of SHOUT! Music Australia
“O My Soul”, “The Introductions” and “Moving Frames” by Adam Taylor, used with permission
“The Father’s Heart” by Tony Anderson, used with permission
“The Ladder” by Drake Margolnick, used with permission

“Fear Not, Little Flock”: The King’s Promise that Presidents Can’t Match

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If our hopes indicate what we value most—what keeps us going, then our fears reveal the same in reverse. What do we need (or think we need) so much that we would be unable to go without it? And what do we believe in so much that if it doesn’t come through for us we’re totally disillusioned?

Even the most casual observer of these final days in the countdown to the general election is aware of the enormous largess being spent on fear. Tragically, some of the most extreme examples of fear-mongering hail from churches, on the left and the right. Earlier in the campaign, some evangelicals expressed alarm that a Mormon might become the high priest of the nation’s soul, while reviving the rumor that Barack Obama is a Muslim. (“After all, he’s not quite like us, is he?”) Yet many conservatives now think that Mitt Romney is just right for the job. In fact, maybe we’ve been too hard on Mormonism. It’s a God-fearing faith of family values. Isn’t that what matters most?

Let’s face it: Mr. Romney belongs to a religious community that officially rejects the Christian creed and Mr. Obama is a member of a liberal Protestant denomination that has largely abandoned it. Since George Washington we’ve been electing presidents with dubious confessional credentials, including a string of deists, Unitarians, and agnostics who nevertheless invoked the Unknown God for the American cause. The real question is not whether Americans generally will elect a non-Christian, but whether churches will redefine Christianity as a surrogate of civil religion. Judging at least by public profession, our next president will once again not be an orthodox Christian. That’s not a tragedy. The real tragedy is quasi-apocalyptic and eschatological claims that are made in churches on the left and the right that create a cycle of false hopes and false fears. The official name for this is idolatry. Who is Lord, Christ or Caesar? Churches and Christian leaders often send mixed signals on that one, especially at election time.

Responsibility versus Fear

Now, there is fear and there is responsible concern. Christians are called to be faithful in caring about and acting for their neighbors’ welfare. Our temporal good is wrapped up in the common good of our nation. We are right to be concerned about the value of human life and marriage, as well as “justice for all,” including our weaker and less privileged neighbors. We are faced with complex crises, foreign and domestic. Some wonder if they’ll ever find employment. Others fear that the economy will hit yet another, perhaps more catastrophic, dip. While the Arab Spring has become a scorching Islamist summer and dictatorships are replaced in some cases with jihadist sects, tensions continue to build between Israel and Iran. North Korea continues its threats, relations with China grow increasingly strained, and many feel a sense of vertigo about the future role of the U. S. in the world. These are not unimportant matters; they demand our attention.

Yet all of these anxieties get whipped up into a virtual frenzy at election time. It’s easy for opinions and strategies—even deeply-held political convictions—to morph into deified ideologies. Unrealistic hopes typically end in disillusionment and cynicism, if not something worse.

 

This post was written by Michael Horton and can be found here.

Why are you so wedded to the world?

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George_Whitefield_preaching

Did it ever prove faithful or satisfactory to any of its votaries? Has not Solomon reckoned up the sum total of worldly happiness? And what does it amount to? ‘Vanity, vanity, saith the preacher, all is vanity,’ nay he adds, ‘and vexation of spirit.’ And has not a greater than Solomon informed us, that a man’s life, the happiness of a man’s life, doth not consist in the things which he possesseth? Besides, ‘know ye not that the friendship of this world is enmity with God; so that whosoever will be a friend to the world (to the corrupt customs and vices of it) is an enemy of God?’

What better reasons can you give for being wedded to your lusts? Might not the poor slaves in the galleys as reasonably be wedded to their chains? For do not your lusts fetter down your souls from God? Do they not lord it and have they not dominion over you? Do not they say, Come and ye come; Go and ye go; Do this and ye do it? And is not he or she that liveth in pleasure, dead, whilst he liveth?

And above all, how can ye bear the thoughts of being wedded to the devil, as every natural man is. For thus speaks the scripture, ‘He now ruleth in the children of disobedience.’ And how can ye bear to be ruled by one, who is such a professed open enemy to the most high and holy God? Who will make a drudge of you, whilst you live and be your companion in endless and extreme torment, after you are dead? For thus will our Lord say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.’

George Whitefield, “Christ the Believer’s Husband,” The Sermons of George Whitefield (Kindle Edition)

 

Originally posted by Aaron Armstrong here on  October 21, 2012

Lord’s Prayer (Pt.4)

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The following is the fourth part of a series written by one of our members, David Carrico. Previous parts can be found at the links below:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come.” Matthew 6:9

Stepping through a meditation of the Model Prayer, our next pause to consider is at “Thy kingdom come.”  This is a phrase that has so much depth and so many layers of meaning that I could probably write at least a half-dozen blogs on it, or write twenty or thirty pages in this one, and still not cover everything that it contains.  I’m not going to do so.  But I am going to cover one aspect of it that I haven’t heard discussed much, and the article is still going to be a bit longer than the previous articles in the series.

When you think of kingdoms, what is the one common element that every kingdom has to have?  A king.

Have you ever thought about what the purpose of a king is?  What function does he serve?

In the grand scheme of things, there seem to be two reasons why societies have created kings and kept them around.  First, to govern:  to make laws, establish rules, and enforce them.  This is the ruling function.  The second reason is to serve as the visible embodiment of the kingdom; to be the representation of the kingdom as a whole.  This is the reigning function.

In human kingdoms those two functions were not always united in the same person.  In the Empire of Japan, for example, there was an extended period of history where the Emperor reigned, but the Shogun (warlord) ruled.  And in England, a struggle began during the reign of King John in the 1200s that after a few hundred years eventually culminated with the ruling function passing to Parliament and the ministers, so that today Queen Elizabeth II reigns but does not rule.

So sometimes the king rules, sometimes the king reigns, and sometimes he does both.

But the Matthew passage isn’t talking about a human kingdom, is it?  When it says “Thy kingdom”, it’s referring to a kingdom that is God’s.  Is it an earthly kingdom?  When you dig out your Rand McNally World Atlas, or fire up Google Maps, do you find a Kingdom of God located somewhere on Earth?  No.  So what is the Matthew passage referring to?  We’ll get to that in a moment.

I find it interesting that the idea of God having a kingdom is not something that is presented in the Bible beginning on page 1.  I mean, with the very first words of Genesis we are immediately presented with a God who is omnipotent and omniscient and creator.  But we don’t encounter the idea that God is king until after a lot of human history has passed.  In fact, the first mention of God being a king doesn’t occur until the beginning of the kingdom of Israel itself.

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.”  But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord.  And the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.”  1 Samuel 8:4-7 

So from the very lips of God we see that as part of being the God of Israel, He was also the king of Israel.  And again:

When you saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ although the Lord your God was your king.  1 Samuel 12:12

That’s the beginning.  That’s the first place where it is revealed to us that God is a king.  This would seem to imply that He has a kingdom, but we don’t see that clearly stated for a while; not until late in the book of Psalms, actually.  There are several references to God as king in the book of Psalms, but the only passage that refers to God’s kingdom is the following:

All Thy works shall give thanks to Thee, O Lord,

And Thy godly ones shall bless Thee.

They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom,

And talk of Thy power;

To make known to the sons of men Thy mighty acts,

And the glory of the majesty of Thy kingdom.

Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

And Thy dominion endures throughout all generations. 

Psalms 145:10-13

And God’s kingdom also appears in Isaiah and Jeremiah as well.  But those references are all relatively light.  God’s kingdom doesn’t really appear as a major theme until the New Testament.  I’m not going to discuss all the instances of the theme there, but a good concordance will take you to them.

But what is this idea of God’s kingdom trying to tell us?  Well, I believe there is one aspect of the idea of God’s kingdom that is paramount, and it’s one that the people of Jesus’ time understood intuitively because of their cultural and societal background that we usually don’t grasp well because of the differences between us in culture and society.

You see, a king is a sovereign.  The dictionary definition of a sovereign is “one who has supreme authority”.  That’s a good description of God, isn’t it?  After all, He created the universe, He sustains the universe, and He will at the end of days destroy the universe.  Moreover, we have the following from the Apostle Paul:

“I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time —  He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords…”  1 Timothy 6:13-15

God is sovereign of all and over all.  (And that’s certainly an important doctrine, but that’s also a discussion for another time.)  So does that mean that His kingdom is the universe?  Well, yes and no.  There are actually two kingdoms in play here:  the kingdom of the universe, and the kingdom of those who belong to Him.  God is sovereign over both, and people can be in both, but there is a difference.

Let’s use the following for a metaphor of what I’m trying to describe:  let’s say I work for a company who in the course of business assigns me to a position in London, England.  I relocate there, and I spend the next several years living in the kingdom of England.  All the time I am there I am subject to English laws and rules, but I am still an American citizen, holding a US passport.

Now let’s say that one day I get an invitation to come before Queen Elizabeth.  I appear at the appropriate palace, hopefully a little early, clean shaven, teeth brushed, dressed in my best suit.  One of the Royal Guards escorts me to the throne room.  I stand in the doorway and see the queen seated on her royal throne, dressed in her royal regalia.  She bids me come forward, and I walk down the length of the throne room with some nervousness, hoping that my shoes won’t squeak.  In a moment, I stand directly before the queen, the sovereign of all England.  In her mannered voice she tells me that she knows all about me, and she desires that I become a subject and citizen of the kingdom of England.  I drop to my knees, place my hands between hers, and swear allegiance, faithfulness, and obedience to her.  At the conclusion, she takes from me my blue US passport and hands to me a brand new maroon United Kingdom passport, which will mark me as a citizen of her kingdom to everyone in the world.

When I walk out of the palace afterward, I’m still me.  I’m still in the kingdom of England.  I still live in the same place.  I still work at the same job for the same boss and employer.  I still get the same paycheck.  I’m still just as subject to the laws and regulations of England as I was before I walked into the palace.  But I’m not the same.  What’s changed?

What has changed is my relationship with the queen.  Before this event, I lived in her kingdom and was subject to her laws, but to me she was the queen.  Now she is my queen.  She has established a personal relationship with me, and I am bound to her as her subject.

In the same way, before I was saved I lived in God’s universe, His kingdom, but He was the God.  But after the Holy Spirit entered my life and brought me to a saving knowledge of Jesus, my relationship with God changed.  Now He is my God.  We have a personal relationship which can be described many different ways.  But one of the ways it can be described is a personal relationship between a subject and a king.  And to a great extent, as much as we can understand of God’s will, that is what history is all about:  the drawing of residents of God’s kingdom to become subjects and citizens of that kingdom.  God in His sovereignty not only created a plan of salvation, but draws some people to it.

Americans really have trouble understanding everything contained in that relationship, because that kind of thing hasn’t been a part of our culture and society for over 200 years.  But it is a very deep relationship, one that has obligations on both sides of it, and it would take another entire blog to discuss those.

So when Jesus holds up “Thy kingdom come” to us as a model, what should it mean to us?

That we should pray that God will continue to build His personal kingdom, one life and soul at a time, and that He will allow us the privilege of participating in it.

Grace and peace to you.

David

 

How SHOULD we be praying

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20121023-151346.jpgHeritage is a place with a lot of “going”. At any given moment there is likely to be someone going somewhere to tell others about Christ. This may be across the street or often around the world. So how should we be praying? I want to give an outline of a God-centered approach to praying for those “goings”.

1) Pray for God to DO what only He can… Let this be our starting point. “God, we are asking You to work in hearts in ways we will never be able.” Let’s ask God to go before us. We believe He will. And what’s more, He has told us to ask.

2) Pray for God to give OPPORTUNITIES… We are asking for God to be working in hearts and now we are asking Him to lead us to these people. “Lord, lead us to those You are working on and give us eyes to see Your hand at work.”

3) Pray for God to give us BOLDNESS and CLARITY… It can be scary sharing in a place opposed to the Gospel. It can be scary sharing in the Bible Belt. Let us plead with God for courage and boldness to speak up and share the truth of what He has done. With this message we need to be clear. A confusing message is rarely helpful. Let us be praying for clear presentations of the Gospel. “Oh lord we ask you to give those going courage and clarity. Let them recognize the opportunities given them and boldly proclaim this wonderful message in ways that can be understood by all who hear.”

And finally, after those things have been lifted up, we pray for those going.

4) Pray God will be GLORIFIED by those going… Notice the focus is not on their safety, their health, or their comfort. The emphasis is on God’s glory. By all means pray for all of those things, but our top priority is God being glorified. “Father, we pray you will work in the lives of those going that they may bring You the most glory. Because we love them we ask for You to keep them safe. Because they are dear to us we ask You to bring them back in one piece. Because we care we ask You to keep them from sickness and help them through all difficulties. And because You are worth everything we pray for Your Name to be glorified above all. Help us to entrust them to You.”

It is my sincere belief this is how we can and should be praying for those going to share with their neighbors or even the nations. Are you faithfully praying? Are you faithfully going?

 

Who Does God Say He Is?

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What comes to mind when you think of God?

Seriously…

Who is this God we are growing to know? Oftentimes our understanding of God needs to be untangled from the mix of ideas commonly shared about Him. Let’s go to His Word and write what is said about who God is:

 

Exodus 3:5-6

 “Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”

 

Exodus 34:6-7

“Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the LordGod, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

 

Psalm 25:8

“Good and upright is the Lord;
Therefore He instructs sinners in the way.”

 

Psalm 90:1-2

“Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”

Psalm 102:12

 “But You, O Lord, abide forever,
And Your name to all generations.”

Psalm 113:5-6

“Who is like the Lord our God,
Who is enthroned on high,
Who humbles Himself to behold
The things that are in heaven and in the earth?”

 

Psalm 145:17

“The Lord is righteous in all His ways
And kind in all His deeds.” 

Isaiah 6:3

“And one called out to another and said,

“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts,
The whole earth is full of His glory.”

Malachi 3:6

 “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

Romans 8:35-39

 “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Willtribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, ornakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written,

“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;
We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer throughHim who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 11:33-36

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? 35 Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the gloryforever. Amen.”

Colossians 1:15-17

 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

Hebrews 13:8

 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

James 1:17

 “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”

1 Peter 1:3

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, whoaccording to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

1 John 4:8

“The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 

Rev 4:8

“And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and nightthey do not cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.””

 

Look back over these descriptions of our God. As His children, we see evidence of His character in the ups and downs of our lives. Here are just a few more texts that help us see more of the fullness and awesomeness of God. Read these slowly and thoughtfully.

 

1 Samuel 2:6-10

 “LORD, You are the One who kills and makes alive…this is difficult for me to understand. You alone are God. I recognize your absolute power over life and death. I praise You for life! …”

Isaiah 40:28-31

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. 29 He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. 30 Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, 31 Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”

 

This is the GOD that we have the privilege to serve! This is the GOD who has graciously caused us to know Him through His creation and through salvation! This is the GOD who seeks that all people would know Him. He has entrusted us with the responsibility to speak the Gospel into the lives of those around us.

 

May our hearts beat with His; may we be His hands, His feet, His voice that all may truly know Him.

 

 

Dangerous Sin Symptoms

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The first thing to do when seeking to put a sin to death is this:

Consider Whether Your Lust Has These Dangerous Symptoms Accompanying It

He goes on to list several of those dangerous symptoms.

Inveterateness (hardened or deep-rooted). Here is what he says: “If it has lain long corrupting in your heart, if you have suffered it to abide in power and prevalency, without attempting vigorously the killing of it and the healing of the wounds you have received by it for some long season, your distemper is dangerous. … When a lust has lain long in the heart, corrupting, festering, cankering, it brings the soul to a woeful condition. In such a case an ordinary course of humiliation will not do the work: whatever it be, it will by this means insinuate itself more or less into all the faculties of the soul, and habituate the affections to its company and society; it grows familiar to the mind and conscience, that they do not startle at it as a strange thing, but are bold with it as that which they are wonted unto.”

Secret pleas of the heart for the countenancing of itself without a vigorous gospel attempt for its mortification. He offers two ways in which this may happen:

  • “When upon thoughts, perplexing thoughts about sin, instead of applying himself to the destruction of it, a man searches his heart to see what evidences he can find of a good condition, notwithstanding that sin and lust, so that it may go well with him. For a man to gather up his experiences of God, to call them to mind, to collect them, consider, try, improve them, is an excellent thing—a duty practiced by all the saints, commended in the Old Testament and the New. … But now to do it for this end, to satisfy conscience, which cries and calls for another purpose, is a desperate device of a heart in love with sin.”
  • By applying grace and mercy to an unmortified sin. “There is nothing more natural than for fleshly reasonings to grow high and strong upon this account. The flesh would fain be indulged unto upon the account of grace, and every word that is spoken of mercy, it stands ready to catch at and to pervert it, to its own corrupt aims and purposes. To apply mercy, then, to a sin not vigorously mortified is to fulfill the end of the flesh upon the gospel.”

When a man fights against his sin only with arguments from the issue or the punishment due unto it. “This is a sign that sin has taken great possession of the will, and that in the heart there is a superfluity of naughtiness [James 1:21]. Such a man as opposes nothing to the seduction of sin and lust in his heart but fear of shame among men or hell from God, is sufficiently resolved to do the sin if there were no punishment attending it; which, what it differs from living in the practice of sin, I know not. Those who are Christ’s, and are acted in their obedience upon gospel principles, have the death of Christ, the love of God, the detestable nature of sin, the preciousness of communion with God, a deep-grounded abhorrency of sin as sin, to oppose to any seduction of sin, to all the workings, strivings, rightings of lust in their hearts.”

Here’s a helpful explanation of what he means:

Try yourself by this also: When you are by sin driven to make a stand, so that you must either serve it and rush at the command of it into folly, like the horse into the battle, or make head against it to suppress it, what do you say to your soul? What do you expostulate with yourself? Is this all—‘Hell will be the end of this course; vengeance will meet with me and find me out?’ It is time for you to look about you; evil lies at the door [Gen. 4:7]. Paul’s main argument to evince that sin shall not have dominion over believers is that they ‘are not under the law, but under grace’ (Rom. 6:14). If your contendings against sin be all on legal accounts, from legal principles and motives, what assurance can you attain unto that sin shall not have dominion over you, which will be your ruin?

When your lust has already withstood particular dealings from God against it. God oftentimes, in his providential dispensations, meets with a man, and speaks particularly to the evil of his heart, as he did to Joseph’s brethren in their selling of him into Egypt. This makes the man reflect on his sin, and judge himself in particular for it. God makes it to be the voice of the danger, affliction, trouble, sickness that he is in or under. Sometimes in reading of the word God makes a man stay on something that cuts him to the heart, and shakes him as to his present condition. More frequently in the hearing of the word preached—his great ordinance for conviction, conversion, and edification—does he meet with men. God often hews men by the sword of his word in that ordinance, strikes directly on their bosom-beloved lust, startles the sinner, makes him engage unto the mortification and relinquishment of the evil of his heart. Now, if his lust has taken such hold on him as to enforce him to break these bands of the Lord and to cast these cords from him—if it overcomes these convictions and gets again into its old posture; if it can cure the wounds it so receives—that soul is in a sad condition.”

This post was originally an article on www.challies.com. You can read the article in it’s entirety here. 

Lord’s Prayer (Part 3)

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The following is the third part of a series written by one of our members, David Carrico. Previous parts can be found at the links below:

Part 1

Part 2

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name…” 

Matthew 6:9

As we meditate through the Model Prayer, we come next to “…hallowed be Thy name…”

Hallowed…a very odd sounding word to the modern American ear.  Sounds kind of old-timey, doesn’t it?  That’s because it is old-timey.  The dictionary calls it archaic and obsolete.  And you’ve got to admit, this isn’t a word that just pops up in everyday conversation.

That explains why we see it in books dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries, like the King James translation of the Bible.  But why do we see it in modern translations like the New American Standard?

Well, that has to do with a deficiency in modern English.  For all its flexibility in communication; for all that most of the world seems to have adopted English as a universal communication tool; for all that some of the grandest written works in human history have been rendered in or into English, it’s not perfect.  It has a few flaws.

One of those flaws is there is no verb form of “holy” in modern English.  We can say “be holy” or “make holy” or “is holy”, but we can’t say “God holied” something.  But to handle the Greek correctly, translators sometimes have a need to be able to say “to holy” someone/something when translating the New Testament.  And that is why modern translators will sometimes use “hallowed” in translating this verse; because this archaic word is a form of a Middle English word that basically means “to holy” something or someone, and it allows them to correctly translate the Greek word.

So in “hallowed be” what we have is a prayer that something be “holied”.  And what is the object of that desire?  The name of God.

As a child in Sunday School, way more years ago than I care to think about, this phrase never made much sense to me.  I had the idea back then that “hallowed” somehow meant something like “praised”.  And that sort of made sense to me.  Even in my early years as a believer, I understood enough to know that God deserved praise from His children.  But “praise the name of God” statements never made much sense to me.  What was so special about the word “God” that made it something that should be praised?

Even if I had known that “hallowed” meant “holied”, it still wouldn’t have made much sense to me.  You see, in our modern culture names are only labels.  The label most people know me by is “David”.  Now that name has meaning—it means “beloved” in Hebrew—and I know that my mother chose it for me with intent.  But in our society, we don’t think about names the way the people of the Bible did.  I sure didn’t in my earlier years.  And we especially don’t understand that when the Bible talks about “the name of God”, it is talking about so much more than a mere divine label.

You see, in the Bible, when one of the writers talks about “the name of God”, the word “name” is being used in a very particular way.  It’s not a reference to any of the thirteen names of God found in the Old Testament:  Yahweh, Elohim, El Elyon, Yahweh-Yireh, El Shaddai, Yahweh-Shalom, etc.  Those names all express characteristics of God, true:  creator, possessor, provider, peace, etc.  But that is different from what one of those writers says when he writes “the name of God”.  The ancient Jews believed that the name of God encompassed the essence of God, His power, and His glory.  Take a look at the following verse.

 

Some boast in chariots, and some in horses; 

But we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God.

Psalms 20:7

They weren’t talking about boasting in a label.  “The name of the Lord/God” wasn’t just a label to them.  That phrase was filled with meaning and import.  When they used it, they were invoking the power and might and glory and majesty of God: the God who always has been, is now, and always will be; the God whose mind held the plan of the universe and of history before He said “Let there be light”; the God who will draw all creation to an end and then create a new heaven and a new earth.

That’s not a God that you just stick a label on and believe you understand Him.  That’s a God who is beyond our ability to comprehend.  Yet the Bible still gives us glimpses of Him.  And one persistent theme in the Bible, particularly among the Old Testament Prophets, is that God is holy.  Many times He is called “The Holy One of Israel”.

What is holy?  Well, the Greek word means pure, clean, without blemish, flaw, or taint.  So in a spiritual application, it means to be morally and spiritually pure, without a touch of sin at all, anywhere, at any time.  God is holy.  You could also say God is holiness.  Holiness is such a part of God’s nature that it can’t be separated from Him.

In recent years I’ve come to believe that holiness is the preeminent characteristic of God.  I know a lot of people, including very learned commentators, would disagree with me and put forward the idea of “God is love” as being the most important aspect of God for mankind.

The problem I have with that is if God is not holy, then everything else about Him is meaningless.  Of what value is the justice of a God who is not holy?  Of what value is the power of a God who is not holy?  Of what value is the love of a God who is not holy?  And ultimately, of what value is a salvation offered by a God who is not holy?

Everything that we know about God, everything that we value about God, everything that we cherish about God flows out of His being holy.  Regardless of which metaphor we pick—cornerstone, keystone, core—it is the holiness of God that is the beginning and end of who God is.  All the other characteristics of God are not necessarily secondary, but must be seen through the lens of God’s holiness.  God is peace because He is holy.  God is the righteous judge because He is holy.  God is love because He is holy.

 

So let’s come back to our prayer.  If God is holy, then what does it mean to pray “hallowed be Thy name”?  I mean, it does sound a bit silly for us to pray for God to be holy when He already is holy, when holiness is such a part of Him that we can’t separate the two.

 

Well, I think there are a couple of things at work here.

First, the prayer acknowledges the holiness of the almighty God.  We need to be constantly reminded of that holiness.

Second, I believe there is a prayer for personal application implied here:  “God, You are holy.  Let Your holiness be evident—in me.”

 

Holiness should be the goal of each believer.  In fact, we’re commanded to it.

 

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” “

1 Peter 1:14-16

 

It should be our desire, individually and collectively, to be holy.  Not “holier than thou”, not self-righteous, not judgmental.  Simply holy.  And our prayers should reflect that desire, because we can’t be holy on our own.

 

Peace and grace to you.

 

David

Preach the Gospel to Yourself

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The following is an article from Tim Challies. You can fin out more from him and his ministry here.

 

Jerry Bridges was talking about preaching the gospel to yourself and being gospel-centered long before it was cool to do so. One of the great burdens of his ministry has long been to have Christians understand that “the gospel is not only the most important message in all of history; it is the only essential message in all of history. Yet we allow thousands of professing Christians to live their entire lives without clearly understanding it and experiencing the joy of living by it. … Christians are not instructed in the gospel. And because they do not fully understand the riches and glory of the gospel, they cannot preach it to themselves, not live by it in their daily lives.” In other words, we teach people just enough gospel to get saved, but then move on to other things. Bridges wants us to understand that we never move on from the gospel.

In the third chapter of The Discipline of Grace, Bridges provides a powerful, thorough review of the gospel and does this by looking at Romans 3:19-26. He offers an exposition of that passage and through it leads to this imperative: Preach the gospel to yourself. Let me provide an extended quote that gives some of the how and the why:

To preach the gospel to yourself, then, means that you continually face up to your own sinfulness and then flee to Jesus through faith in His shed blood and righteous life. It means that you appropriate, again by faith, the fact that Jesus fully satisfied the law of God, that He is your propitiation, and that God’s holy wrath is no longer directed toward you.

To preach the gospel to yourself means that you take at face value the precious words of Romans 4:7-8: “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”

It means that you believe on the testimony of God that “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). It means you believe that “Christ redeemed [you] from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for [you], for it is written ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13). It means you believe He forgave you all your sins (Colossians 2:13) and now “[presents you] holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” (Colossians 1:22).

Turning to the Old Testament, to preach the gospel to yourself means that you appropriate by faith the words of Isaiah 53:6: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and theLORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

It means that you dwell upon the promise that God has removed your transgressions from you as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12), that He has blotted out your transgressions and remembers your sin no more (Isaiah 43:25). But it means you realize that all these wonderful promises of forgiveness are based upon the atoning death of Jesus Christ.

It is the death of Christ through which He satisfied the justice of God and averted from us the wrath of God that is the basis of all God’s promises of forgiveness. We must be careful that, in preaching the gospel to ourselves, we do not preach a gospel without a cross. We must be careful that we do not rely on the so-called unconditional love of God without realizing that His love can only flow to us as a result of Christ’s atoning death.

This is the gospel Bridges wants the Christian to preach to himself day-by-day. “When you set yourself to seriously pursue holiness, you will begin to realize what an awful sinner you are. And if you are not firmly rooted in the gospel and have not learned to preach it to yourself every day, you will soon become discouraged and will slack off in your pursuit of holiness.”

To learn very practically about how Bridges preaches the gospel to himself, click here for a short quote from his book Respectable Sins.

Lord’s Prayer (Part 2)

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The previous post can be found here.

Continuing with some meditations on “The Model Prayer” (or “The Lord’s Prayer”, as most of us in my generation know it).

 

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven…” Matthew 6:9

 

“Our Father who art in heaven…”  That’s not just a form of address.  It’s a promise.  In what way?  Well, walk with me for the next few minutes and let’s see if I can explain this.

 

Heaven.  When you read or hear that word, what comes to mind?  Most people associate that word at least with pleasant thoughts, with the end of pain and suffering, with eternity, with a time of joy and freedom.  We as believers, as disciples of Christ, immediately jump from heaven to God.  Why?  Because we believe that heaven is the abode—the dwelling place—of God.  There are many verses in the Bible that tell us that heaven is the royal seat of God, that His throne is established there.  Here’s one as a case in point:

 

Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.  Revelation 4:2

 

So God rules and reigns in heaven.  We’ve all accepted that, if we’re believers.  We all believe that God is in heaven.  We’ll come back to that thought.

 

But what do we really know about heaven?  Do we know what it’s made of?  Does it have a physical existence that can be found, located, described?  Mmm, well, maybe not so much.  Scripture indicates that angels and a few men go “up” to heaven, and “down” to earth.  That would make us think of heaven being somewhere “out there” (waving our arms to the sky).

 

Now I’m not going to try and rationalize heaven with the natural science of the world.  But back in the days when dirt was new and I was in high school, I had a science teacher who taught me that our universe has four dimensions:  length, breadth, height/depth, and time.  These are what we can perceive with our bodies, right?  (Yes, I know there are some physicists who are postulating other dimensions, but let’s stick with what we can experience.)  Okay.  Now, mankind has pretty much been all over the earth.  We’ve at least peeked into all its nooks and crannies, even if we haven’t walked there.  The mountaintops have all been viewed.  Any sign of heaven?  Any sign of God’s throne on earth?  Not that I’ve heard about.

 

Man has learned to fly through the air.  Any sign of heaven lurking in the clouds?  Not that anyone’s reported.

 

Man has learned to send sophisticated scientific measurement devices out beyond the atmosphere.  Any sign of heaven on the moon, or Mars, or any of the other planets of the solar system?  Any sign of heaven glimpsed by the Hubble telescope?  Nope.

 

Does that mean that heaven doesn’t have a physical existence?  No.  But it does mean that if heaven is bound into the physical universe of length and breadth and height and time, it’s either a lot farther away than we can see, or it’s in a form that we can’t recognize as being heaven.

 

But . . .

 

There is one verse in scripture that makes me believe that a search for a physical heaven is wasted, that heaven is not a physical place or structure.

 

But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  2 Peter 3:8

 

Time is an inextricable part of the physical universe.  And from the creation of the universe until today, time has always marched in one direction.  And despite the theories of the natural scientists, no one has ever been able to substantially affect the flow of time.  A second is a second pretty much everywhere on earth.

 

The temptation is to treat Peter’s words as poetic imagery, as hyperbole to create a feeling or effect.  The problem with that is this verse is out of the middle of a sobering passage describing to believers many of the effects and consequences of the last days.  But to me this passage is also saying that God is not bound up in time.  Therefore, God is greater than the limitations of our physical universe.  God is within our universe, yes, but He is also without it.

 

And if God is not contained within the strictures of time and length and width and height, then it makes sense that heaven is also not contained within them.

 

So how does heaven exist?  Well, I think we get a clue in the following verses:

 

For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation.

For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created by Him and for Him.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.  Colossians 1:13-17

 

 

In Christ all things hold together.  Another way of saying that is that the mind of God holds all things together.  And if that is true of the physical universe, then it is undoubtedly true of heaven.  Heaven exists because God wills it to exist.  And if it exists in some manner not bound into our physical universe, it does so because that’s how God wills it to exist.

 

All of the descriptions of heaven found in scripture are given to us by way of visions, no two of which seem to be exactly alike.  Is that a problem?  No, not really; because in each case the visions were being given to diverse individuals for diverse reasons.  God was allowing them to see what they needed to see to convey God’s particular message for thatparticular time.  They could not and did not see all of heaven.  See the following verses where Paul describes what all authorities believe was one of his own experiences:

 

Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.  I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago —  whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows —  such a man was caught up to the third heaven.  And I know how such a man — whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows — was caught up into Paradise, and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.  2 Corinthians 12:1-4

 

“Inexpressible words.”  Things that Paul heard could not be expressed in Greek—I dare say could not be expressed in any human tongue.  Likewise, trying to describe the wonders of heaven with any human language must be impossible.  What we read in scripture is only the poorest description of the beauties of the place created by God for Himself.

 

And now let’s circle back to the beginning, where I said that the phrase “Our Father who art in heaven” was a promise.  Turn now to John 14:1-3.

 

“Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”  John 14:1-3

 

We have the promise of Christ–the promise of God Himself—that we will one day stand in that indescribable inexpressible place outside of our physical universe, that place which God formed for Himself; the throne room of God.  And because of that, when we pray “Our Father who art in heaven” we should feel great joy at the reminder of that promise.

 

Prayer should always begin with joy.

 

Peace and grace to you.

 

David

The Lord’s Prayer

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This is part 1 of a study on the Lord’s Prayer by one of our members, David Carrico. We are printing this to help spur one another on towards godliness and to stoke the fire of our affections towards this great God we have. It is also a great example of different parts of the body using their gifts to build up the whole. We hope you will read it and be blessed.

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As believers, as followers of Jesus Christ, as those called Christians after Him, we are supposed to be a people of the Book (the Bible, in other words), and a people of prayer. That means we should seek God in His revealed word, and we should seek Him in prayer. I am convinced that none of us do enough of either one, but for the next few blogs I’m going to focus just on prayer.

There are many scriptures, of course, that refer to prayer, and that point us to the need for prayer on a constant basis in our daily lives. Just picking one almost at random, listen to the apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:18:

“With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints…”

Pray at all times. Pray constantly. But pray with a focus.

It’s not for nothing that Jesus’ disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray…” (Luke 11:1a)

So a review of Jesus’ first teaching on prayer is always in order. I’m old enough to remember when everyone called it ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, although today it is usually referred to as ‘The Model Prayer’. Turn to Matthew 6:9.

Jesus begins with:

“Pray, then, in this way: Our Father…”

Let’s consider just that bit today.

Our Father…

Christians refer to God as Father all the time. It’s almost endemic in us. It’s part of our culture, and even for us Baptists it’s become a part of ritual. (And yes, even Baptists can have rituals. We just don’t call them that.) I knew a guy at a church I once attended who didn’t seem to be able to pray without saying “Father” at least three times in every sentence.

Why do we do that? Because Jesus taught us to do so, in passages like this one. And when you stop and think about it, it is a very awe-inspiring thing to be given the right and the privilege and permission to call the God of the universe “Father.”

Or at least, it should be. The problem is that when we human beings do things over and over again, we all too often slip from a reasoned understanding of what and why we’re doing them to a rote routine mentality. In other words, we do it because we’ve always done it. We do it out of reflex. We do it because it’s programmed into us at some point and it doesn’t require any thought. We become flippant and matter-of-fact. We approach God casually. And in doing so, we are disrespectful to God.

We need to be more aware of the majesty and awe of God. The Jews certainly were; so much so that God is only called “Father” once in the Pentateuch (books of Moses), and only seven times total in all of the Old Testament. (Deut 32:6; Psalms 89:26; Isaiah 9:6, 63:16, 64:8; Jeremiah 3:4, 19) In contrast, Jesus calls God “Father” 17 times just in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7.

“But,” you say, “isn’t the word translated as ‘Father’ in this verse the word ‘abba’, and doesn’t that mean ‘poppa’ or ‘daddy’ or ‘dad’?”

Yes, that’s true. “Abba” is Aramaic for the informal form of endearment that is most equivalent to “poppa” or “daddy.” (The Hebrew form is “avi”, for you trivia buffs.) But a familiar form of a word is not equal to a casual or flippant treatment. And certainly there is nothing in the Law that God gave Moses almost 4000 years ago that indicates God considers casual/flippant to be a good thing. On the contrary, look at the following verse:

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.” Exodus 20:12

You recognize that as one of the Ten Commandments, I’m sure. So God considers all fathers worthy of honor, so much so that there’s an implied curse there on those who don’t honor them. How much more so is God the Father worthy of honor? And this verse:

‘Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father, and you shall keep My sabbaths; I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 19:3

So God the Father considers all fathers worthy of reverence. Then in the next breath, He commands that His sabbaths be kept. Do you think that is a coincidental connection of the statements? I don’t think so. This verse can be read to say that reverencing fathers is of as great an importance to God as the worship of Himself. And finally this verse:

‘If there is anyone who curses his father or his mother, he shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother, his bloodguiltiness is upon him.’ Leviticus 20:9

If these are the things that God commanded in the law He gave to Moses about earthly fathers and how they are to be treated, about how they should be revered and honored and respected, how much more do you think He feels is due Himself?

I don’t think it’s a very good thing to be disrespectful to God. We need to rethink our attitudes about how we approach God. After all, we’re talking about the God whose mind contained the basic design of the universe and the plan of all history before the universe was created. We’re talking about the God who had a plan of salvation for fallen man already in place before the events of Genesis 1:1. We’re talking about the God who sacrificed His own Son to accomplish that plan of salvation.

Don’t you think that that God, Who is and did all those things, is one who should be approached with awe and respect?

The miracle about prayer, to me, is two-fold:

1. First, that we are allowed to approach God at all in any way, shape, or form. By rights, God in His holiness should not allow it. That we can is an expression of God’s mercy.

2. Second, that we as believers are allowed to address God as “Father”. That God gives us that privilege is an expression of His grace.

Calling God “Father” is a gift, a grace, a privilege; and it is something that we do not deserve and should never take lightly. When you talk to God in prayer, always keep that in mind. He is awesome. He is worthy of awe and reverence and honor, and we should always approach him that way, even when we begin with “Our Father….”

Peace and grace to you.

David

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