Here is a quick excerpt and a quote I will use in the sermon on Sunday.
“Gratitude exclaims, very properly, 'How good of God to give me this.' Adoration says, 'What must be the quality of that Being whose far-off and momentary coruscations are like this!, One’s mind runs back up the sunbeam to the sun.” C S Lewis
One’s mind runs back up the sunbeam to the sun. God intends for us to have joy and contentment. When we encounter gifts that he has given to us and engage them as gifts from him and enjoy them, we worship.
Hope to see you Sunday at 10:00 at 660 Charbonier.
Sleepless night thoughts
A couple of thoughts that come together...
There is a song that is written by a youth pastor who had a close friend and fellow youth pastor die in an accident. The two were very close. The surviving friend wrote a song called "How He Loves Us" that David Crowder covered. There are a lot of great lines in that song. My favorite is, "I don’t have time to maintain these regrets, when I think about, the way He loves us…"
Many times I, and I suspect you, get caught in this ridiculous self centered trap of regret or anxiety or feeling sorry for our situations. But my heart yearns for the truth of the sentiment of this line in this song to ring deep in the darkest corner of my soul. That I would not waste time on self centered pity parties, and instead rest and bask in the overcoming knowledge of the love of Jesus.
It is not that I am loved and I have my health and wonderful kids and friends and family and as a result count my blessings and thank God for them. It is that the love of a savior that is compelling me to worship and breath in deep the contented exuberance that His love leaves me with has made me forget about the momentary difficulties that are results of living in a fallen world.
Uncertainty of future, strained relationships, physical pain, struggle with sin, broken relationship, idiotic people, financial struggle and so much more are so very small.
The second thought comes from Hebrews 12:3. I am begging God tonight to give me a grace gift of endurance and strength. I am asking God to allow me to consider Jesus and all that he endured until I receive and God granted resolve and strength that Jesus left the Garden of Gethsemane with.
There is a song that is written by a youth pastor who had a close friend and fellow youth pastor die in an accident. The two were very close. The surviving friend wrote a song called "How He Loves Us" that David Crowder covered. There are a lot of great lines in that song. My favorite is, "I don’t have time to maintain these regrets, when I think about, the way He loves us…"
Many times I, and I suspect you, get caught in this ridiculous self centered trap of regret or anxiety or feeling sorry for our situations. But my heart yearns for the truth of the sentiment of this line in this song to ring deep in the darkest corner of my soul. That I would not waste time on self centered pity parties, and instead rest and bask in the overcoming knowledge of the love of Jesus.
It is not that I am loved and I have my health and wonderful kids and friends and family and as a result count my blessings and thank God for them. It is that the love of a savior that is compelling me to worship and breath in deep the contented exuberance that His love leaves me with has made me forget about the momentary difficulties that are results of living in a fallen world.
Uncertainty of future, strained relationships, physical pain, struggle with sin, broken relationship, idiotic people, financial struggle and so much more are so very small.
The second thought comes from Hebrews 12:3. I am begging God tonight to give me a grace gift of endurance and strength. I am asking God to allow me to consider Jesus and all that he endured until I receive and God granted resolve and strength that Jesus left the Garden of Gethsemane with.
Theology Thursday :: The Holy Spirit
A Theology of the Holy Spirit
We believe the biblical teaching that a Christian receives the Holy Spirit at the moment of their conversion. It is not something that they have to strive for or beg for in any way, but rather the means by which God does his regenerative work in conversion and continued sanctification in the life of a believer is through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
In Romans 7, the Apostle Paul expresses his deep and continued struggle with life as a Christian. He continually finds that no matter how hard he tries to live right before God, he fails. His conclusion is found in the very next chapter that the answer to his failure as a believer isn’t in him simply trying harder, as that has proved to fail continually (Rom 7:18), but rather through the Holy Spirit’s work in his life, he is able to live a life of continued growth and sanctification.
In the midst of such a powerful chapter (Rom 8) on the work and role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christ, Paul makes some profoundly important statements that shape how we view the Holy Spirit. Paul makes it clear in the first few verses of chapter 8, that the only means a believer has to “success” as a Christian is through the Spirit and to the extent a believer tries to fulfill the law, he has and will utterly fail (vv. 3-8).
Romans 8:9 says, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (ESV). What Paul is teaching here very clearly is that a person who does not have the Holy Spirit, is not a Christian. The Apostle John affirms this in 1 John 4:13 when he writes, “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit” (ESV).
The Holy Spirit is given to a believer at the moment of their conversion and Paul continues in Romans 8 to warn against living in opposition to the Spirit’s power when he says, “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom 8:12–14). So Paul is showing us that the leading of the Spirit is a defining mark of all true believers, and in fact is the means by which a believer is adopted into the family of God and whereby the work of Christ—in His death, burial and resurrection—takes root in the believer’s heart. - “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Rom 8:15)
And God’s Spirit is continually revealing to us the reality of our acceptance as sons and daughters of the Living God. “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom 8:16).
What about Acts 2 and the believers at Pentecost?
Jesus made it very clear to his disciples that he would not leave them as orphans on this earth, despite the fact that he was going to physically leave them (John 14:18-19). Be he continually told them that the Helper (the Holy Spirit) was going to come and live within them (John 14:15-17, 25-31). But that would not happen, and didn’t need to happen, as long as he was still with them (John 16:7).
Then in the book of Acts we have the account of Jesus ascending into heaven, as he promised, and sending the Helper to indwell the believers. Acts 2:1-12 records the Holy Spirit descending and indwelling the New Testament Church for the first time. Those who had been Christians for a while, later received the Holy Spirit, because they had to wait until Jesus ascended to Heaven so that he could send the Spirit. This is really the only New Testament instance where believers did not receive the Spirit at the moment of their conversion, because he wasn’t “available” yet. These believers at Pentecost were dwelling in a different period of redemptive history than we are today and at the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost we see a shift in redemptive history which will be expressed beginning in Acts 2:37.
After Peter then preached his sermon at Pentecost, the people were “cut to the heart” and wanted to know what they should do (Acts 2:37). Peter’s response was “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Here we see this shift in redemptive history where Peter makes it clear that receiving the Holy Spirit happens at the moment of conversion. This shift becomes a picture of what Baptism of the Spirit looks like in the life of a Christian, and is one indication that the initial account in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit first indwelled believers, was a unique situation in Christian history, as are a few other situations with the early church in Acts.
Questioning the Church...Gifts
We talked last week in the sermon about gifts. We were going to talk in the sermon this week about specific gifts. I think that blog posts are a better vehicle for that discussion that a sermon. So read through this passage and the Greek word definitions and then take a look at the questions and statement that follow.
You are encouraged to interact here.
Romans 12:4-11
Service- execute the commands of another. Service is a great English translation for this word in this context.
Teaching- Exposing truth, instructing, deliver didactic truth.
Exhortation- Language intended to incite or encourage. In scripture this is a very pastoral gift, to deepen or give practical application to teaching. Teachers are very professor like dispensing of truth, exhorters are encouragers and motivators of truth.
Giving- To impart, to give.
Leadership- Protector, guardian, to set over, to preside over.
Mercy- To help one who is afflicted.
Who do you know that personifies each of these gifts?
Where do you see your two strongest gifts and you two weakest gifts?
Encourage someone today by telling them you see these gifts in them. There may even be a good chance that the person you encourage has no idea they even have this gift.
How are you/can you serve North Church and the Global Church with these gifts?
You are encouraged to interact here.
Romans 12:4-11
Service- execute the commands of another. Service is a great English translation for this word in this context.
Teaching- Exposing truth, instructing, deliver didactic truth.
Exhortation- Language intended to incite or encourage. In scripture this is a very pastoral gift, to deepen or give practical application to teaching. Teachers are very professor like dispensing of truth, exhorters are encouragers and motivators of truth.
Giving- To impart, to give.
Leadership- Protector, guardian, to set over, to preside over.
Mercy- To help one who is afflicted.
Who do you know that personifies each of these gifts?
Where do you see your two strongest gifts and you two weakest gifts?
Encourage someone today by telling them you see these gifts in them. There may even be a good chance that the person you encourage has no idea they even have this gift.
How are you/can you serve North Church and the Global Church with these gifts?
A Culture of Prayer
THE NEED::
This past week I spent about 2 hours prayer walking the community around Florissant Presbyterian. The thing that the Lord continually impressed upon my heart was the need for the gospel to penetrate the hearts and lives of every home, family and life that I walked by, looked at, talked to, etc. We are at a point as a church that I believe we will either begin to take the great commission seriously or we will become content with just not really living our lives on mission with the good news of Jesus. I'll be the first to admit, talking out loud to strangers about Jesus is not natural for me, in fact, I hate it, to some degree. That is something that I have continually been confessing and repenting of this week, begging God to do it in me...which is what it's all about even for the person who loves evangelism. The question becomes, will we take God seriously regarding the great commission, but even before that regarding the great commandment. I am learning more and more that the more we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, the more we will love our neighbors and therefore fulfill the great commission.
THE ANSWER::
God has to do it in us. We won't do it ourselves (Rom. 7:15; 8:13-14, 26-27; Col. 1:29; 2:6-7), or if we do it will be a miserable failure, or an even more miserable success. But the answer isn't just to sit back and hope that it happens, but rather to beg God to do it in us and through us. Will you join me is seeking to make a culture of prayer at NC? That no matter what is happening--good, bad, tragic, or incredible success--our first thought is PRAY, run hard to Jesus with it.
THE HOW::
Rik continually reminds us that you have as much access to God as him and I do, as well as any other pastor or believer. I say that to say, you don't need us to always be leading you in prayer. Now our goal is still to do that--to shepherd you to pray more--but the question becomes, do you only pray when we schedule a time or when we say, "Hey lets go over here and pray before the service?" The first Sunday of every month we will pray from 9-9:45am under the pavilion. This time will typically be elder led, with some structure. Every other Sunday morning from 9:30-9:45ish under the pavilion we encourage you to pray before the service. There might not always be an elder there, my desire is that all of you lead out here. Even if an elder isn't available or around to say "Hey lets go out to the pavilion and pray," somewhat else needs to. This is the culture I pray we will have at NC. The last thing I encourage you to do is Prayer walk your communities. Take your wives and families and regularly walk around your community praying for your neighbors and asking God to show you how to be intentional in reaching them with the gospel.
The next 2 sundays, and even beyond, will we create opportunities for you to sign-up to serve at NC. One of the things on the list will be prayer. I hope that every person signs up to create a culture of prayer at NC. Will you join me? I'm praying that you will!
This past week I spent about 2 hours prayer walking the community around Florissant Presbyterian. The thing that the Lord continually impressed upon my heart was the need for the gospel to penetrate the hearts and lives of every home, family and life that I walked by, looked at, talked to, etc. We are at a point as a church that I believe we will either begin to take the great commission seriously or we will become content with just not really living our lives on mission with the good news of Jesus. I'll be the first to admit, talking out loud to strangers about Jesus is not natural for me, in fact, I hate it, to some degree. That is something that I have continually been confessing and repenting of this week, begging God to do it in me...which is what it's all about even for the person who loves evangelism. The question becomes, will we take God seriously regarding the great commission, but even before that regarding the great commandment. I am learning more and more that the more we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, the more we will love our neighbors and therefore fulfill the great commission.
THE ANSWER::
God has to do it in us. We won't do it ourselves (Rom. 7:15; 8:13-14, 26-27; Col. 1:29; 2:6-7), or if we do it will be a miserable failure, or an even more miserable success. But the answer isn't just to sit back and hope that it happens, but rather to beg God to do it in us and through us. Will you join me is seeking to make a culture of prayer at NC? That no matter what is happening--good, bad, tragic, or incredible success--our first thought is PRAY, run hard to Jesus with it.
THE HOW::
Rik continually reminds us that you have as much access to God as him and I do, as well as any other pastor or believer. I say that to say, you don't need us to always be leading you in prayer. Now our goal is still to do that--to shepherd you to pray more--but the question becomes, do you only pray when we schedule a time or when we say, "Hey lets go over here and pray before the service?" The first Sunday of every month we will pray from 9-9:45am under the pavilion. This time will typically be elder led, with some structure. Every other Sunday morning from 9:30-9:45ish under the pavilion we encourage you to pray before the service. There might not always be an elder there, my desire is that all of you lead out here. Even if an elder isn't available or around to say "Hey lets go out to the pavilion and pray," somewhat else needs to. This is the culture I pray we will have at NC. The last thing I encourage you to do is Prayer walk your communities. Take your wives and families and regularly walk around your community praying for your neighbors and asking God to show you how to be intentional in reaching them with the gospel.
The next 2 sundays, and even beyond, will we create opportunities for you to sign-up to serve at NC. One of the things on the list will be prayer. I hope that every person signs up to create a culture of prayer at NC. Will you join me? I'm praying that you will!
