One of Those Verses

Sometimes we need a reminder of how valuable Scripture is to us.
Yesterday I was in a meeting where this verse was read.
I have had this verse in my mind ever since; I want to share it with you.

1Pet. 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

Rick Holland said yesterday that this verse is "pregnant with gospel truth." It is so true!

Enjoy our Savior as you meditate on this verse.

When I grow up I want to be a...

The first time I thought of that question I was probably under 4 years old.
I remember my grandfather, brothers and I were "working" in my grandpa's shed (which was huge) and I remembering thinking, "When I grow up I want to be a carpenter."
A carpenter? Yes, a carpenter.
I would love to tell you that I wanted to be a carpenter because Joseph, Jesus' dad, was a carpenter and thus he, Jesus, probably was in the family business, but no. I wanted to be a carpenter because I loved saws, hammers, and the smell of wood.
Unfortunately, it didn't take long for my dreams to be shattered, 4th grade wood-shop class took care of that. I realized then that I probably would need a desk job or talk to people in order to make money, instead of sanding, cutting and nailing.
I was reminded of that today as I was driving to work. It is funny to think that we usually end up a million miles away from where we first start and yet we end up in the same place that God wants us to be.
I was talking to a friend last week and I was telling him that for us Hollywood does not really apply. We could never think "I missed my chance." We know that we are exactly where God wants us. Somehow our choices and God's sovereignty work in perfect harmony.
You see, the best way I can explain this is: God is a great God, he knows all and somehow all things work together to bring him glory. So...
No... I did not get to be a carpenter, or a doctor, nor an astronaut, nor a soccer player, and I did not get to sail around the world, but wherever I am at, it is the perfect place where he wants us to be.

Republican? Democrat? No Thanks, I am a Monarchist!

Last week one of our professors told us that he was neither a Republican, nor a Democrat; he said, "I am a Monarchist, I am waiting for my King to come and Rule perfectly over the earth."
That statement caused me to change what I was going to teach on friday.
I was schedule to teach on Proverbs 31, the excellent woman! However, I could not help for my mind to gravitate to another passage, Proverbs 21:1 "The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will."
This proverb shows us that God is in control, even in human government.
The image is pretty vivid, God hands moving a flow of water wherever he desires, that is the heart of the king. I think that sometimes we worry too much about who will win, what they stand for, but we forget that behind EVERY ruler, stands the RULER of the universe.
There are four responses to this verse.
1) Trust God- That whatever happens in government, He is still sitting on the throne
2) Pray- Pray for your leaders, for wisdom.
3) Vote- Since we live on a democracy, there is nothing wrong for us to vote for the candidates that will help the right people.
4) Remember- We need to remember that God wins at the end. No matter how bleak the outlook, God still wins at the end.

Busyness and Thoughts

The last 3 weeks have been probably the busiest weeks of my life. Work has picked up, School is still relentless, and everything else around me is still going on.
Last week I began to despair, it was a very tough week, not only in busyness, but also emotionally draining for other reasons. I was sharing this with my beautiful wife and she read to me this very well known passage.

21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

23 He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

24 No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

25 "To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God"?

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

In all of my busyness, I had forgotten that God is still the one that sits on the throne. He is the one that gives strength to the weary, he increases the power of the weak.
God is still King!
I know that this is a short post, but I wanted to share this passage of Scripture with you.

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Dying to Self

Friday and Saturday, Crossroads sponsored a very different conference, it was called AWARE or it should have been called HOW TO MATURE IN CHRIST.
We heard four great sermons about maturing in leadership, finances, planning, and the value of awareness.
This latter one was quite convicting to me:

Download Here

Rick Holland finished his sermon with this great anonymous poem:


When you are forgotten, neglected, or purposely set at naught, and you don't sting or hurt with the oversight, but your heart is happy being counted worthy to suffer for Christ;

That is dying to self.
When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinion ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence;
That is dying to self.
When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any annoyance; when you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus did;
That is dying to self.
When you are content with any food, and offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any solitude, any interruption by the will of God;
That is dying to self.
When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or record your own good works or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown;
That is dying to self.
When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met, and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and you are in desperate circumstances;
That is dying to self.
When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit, inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart;
That is dying to self.

A Remembrance

Psalm 70 deals is a particular Song of the Psalter, it is a Remembrance.
In the superscript David writes, "For the Music Director, a psalm of David, to remember."
Only in Psalm 38 is this superscript found, this remembrance was probably sung with a sacrifice that would act as a reminder to Yahweh of the psalmist needs and requests.
As I was reading and re-reading this psalm, I was struck by his dependence on the Yahweh. David understood quite well that God was the only one that could remember him while he was in distress. I thought about the fact that when we are in distress we seek people, comfort, and other devices, instead of clinging to the Rock, instead of "reminding" the Lord about our distress.
How different our lives might be if we would go to Yahweh and casts all of our cares on Him, because he cares for us.