We’ve primarily taught thru books of the Bible on Sunday mornings at Grace Bible for several years now. It doesn’t sound cool, slick, or “relevant” but there are benefits to this approach. Jared C. Wilson outlines a few in this post: 8 Reasons To Preach Through Books of the Bible.
Ever struggle with what to say when someone is hurting? Me too. Maybe the best place to start is with what NOT to say. Check out this great post on the subject.
Most of our New Testament is made up of letters written to churches reminding them of the gospel (the good news that Christ died for sinners). Ever wonder why? Why would “saved” people need to here the gospel of Jesus again? The truth is we never outgrow the gospel. “The gospel is not just the A-B-C’s but the A-Z of Christianity” -Tim Keller.
The fact is, a growing awareness of God’s holiness, and a growing awareness of our own sinfulness, without a growing appreciation for the gospel, is hurtful. The picture below illustrates this well. Notice what happens when we don’t increase our view of the gospel (the cross). We try to fill the growing gap with performance (religion, moralism, self-justification, legalism, pride) and/or pain (guilt, fear, shame, insecurity, despair).
The picture below illustrates Christianity WITH a growing understanding of the gospel. In this picture we see an ever increasing appreciation of the gospel (the cross) as we further our knowledge of God’s holiness and our own sinfulness.
The Christian life becomes a struggle when we don’t focus the gospel and it’s far reaching implications. We think the benefits of the gospel are limited to when we pass from this life to the next. But the gospel gives us freedom from our past, power of the present, AND hope for the future. The gospel not only saves us (John 3:16, Romans 10:13), but also progressively sanctifies us, allowing us to be “transformed…from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor 3:18). Performance and pain are now replaced by worship, a realization of the grace (unearned favor) that has been afforded to us, and a pursuit of holiness out of thankfulness.
Now, if you’re reading all of this and are thoroughly confused, don’t worry. It’s probably my lack of explanation more than your inability to understand. Please, shoot me an email and let’s get together and talk about this. There’s nothing I want more than to help ppl apply the gospel to our lives.
Our church’s student ministry recently had their annual weekend retreat aka Breakaway Weekend. Below is a sweet highlight vid!
Loved this from John Piper. Less than 5 mins. Check it out!
Last Sunday we talked about Jesus’ very high view and value of Scripture. Jesus’ followers should share that view of Scripture and make Bible reading and study an integral part of our lives. A good place to start reading and studying would be one of the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. I recommended John for our church because we are currently going through this book on Sunday mornings. Start in one of the gospels, make it your “home base,” and then start reading through it a passage at a time, taking some time to reflect, ask some questions, and pray. Below are some questions that make for a simple approach to studying the Bible one passage at a time:
What does this passage say?
What does this passage mean to its original audience?
What does this passage tell us about God?
What does this passage tell us about man?
What does this passage demand of me?
How does this passage change the way I relate to people?
How does this passage prompt me to pray?
This past Sunday we talked looked at Jesus’ statement in John 10:35 “Scripture cannot be broken.” We talked about how followers of Christ (John 10:27) we should share Jesus’ high view of the Bible.
I recommended a great book on the subject of the Bible itself: Taking God At His Word
Also, below is a summary of Jesus’ view of Scripture from the author of Taking God At His Word, pastor Kevin DeYoung that I read at the end of the message:
Jesus held Scripture in the highest possible esteem. He knew his Bible intimately and loved it deeply. He often spoke with language of Scripture. He easily alluded to Scripture. And in his moments of greatest trial and weakness—like being tempted by the devil or being killed on a cross—he quoted Scripture.
His mission was to fulfill Scripture, and his teaching always upheld Scripture.
He never disrespected, never disregarded, never disagreed with a single text of Scripture.
He affirmed every bit of law, prophecy, narrative, and poetry. He shuddered to think of anyone anywhere violating, ignoring, or rejecting Scripture.
Jesus believed in the inspiration of Scripture, down to the sentences, to the phrases, to the words, to the smallest letter, to the tiniest mark.
He accepted the chronology, the miracles, and the authorial ascriptions as giving the straightforward facts of history.
He believed in keeping the spirit of the law without ever minimizing the letter of the law. He affirmed the human authorship of Scripture while at the same time bearing witness to the ultimate divine authorship of the Scriptures.
He treated the Bible as a necessary word, a sufficient word, a clear word, and the final word.
It was never acceptable in his mind to contradict Scripture or stand above Scripture.
He believed the Bible was all true, all edifying, all important, and all about him. He believed absolutely that the Bible was from God and was absolutely free from error. What Scripture says God says, and what God said was recorded infallibly in Scripture.
Jesus submitted his will to the Scriptures, committed his brain to study the Scriptures, and humbled his heart to obey the Scriptures.
In summary, it is impossible to revere the Scriptures more deeply or affirm them more completely than Jesus did. The Lord Jesus, God’s Son and our Savior, believed his Bible was the word of God down to the tiniest speck and that nothing in all those specks and in all those books in his Bible could ever be broken.
Here is a link to the entire post.
Check out GRACE NOTES MAY 2016! Lots of great GBF News including a recap of the elder retreat we took earlier this month.
Our elder team continues to go through Twenty Christian Beliefs by Wayne Grudem together. Last week we looked at and discussed Ch 2, What Is God Like? The chapter looks at, and gives biblical evidence for the existence of God, the knowability of God, His independence, the fact that He’s unchangeable, eternal, and omnipresent. Furthermore He is spirit, invisible, omniscient, wise, truthful, good, love, holy, righteous, just, and jealous. God is wrathful toward sin. He wills what he will. He has freedom. He is omnipotent, perfect, blessed, and beautiful. All of this and at the same time, God is a unity. “He is not more of one attribute at one point in history and another attribute at another time. He is fully and completely every attribute (even those not mentioned here) at every time.” (p.36)
I’d like to recommend further reading on this subject. Check out: God Is The Gospel, By: John Piper
Also, we sang the song below at church on Sunday. It was a great compliment to my reading from chapter 2!
Wasteland, by Need To Breathe. One of my favorite songs. Lyrics and YouTube below:
I’m the first one in line to die
When the cavalry comes
Yeah it feels like the great divide
Has already come
Yeah I’m wasting my way through days
Losing youth along the way
Oh if God is on my side
Oh if God is on my side
Oh if God is on my side
Who can be against me
There was a greatness I felt for awhile
But somehow it changed
Some kind of blindness I used to protect me
From all of my stains
Yeah I wish this was vertigo
It just feels like I’m falling slow
Oh if God is on my side
Then who can be against me
Yeah in this wasteland where I’m livin’
There is a crack in the door filled with light
And it’s all that I need to get by
Yeah in this wasteland where I’m livin’
There is a crack in the door filled with light
And it’s all that I need to shine
All of these people I meet
It seems like they’re fine
Yeah in some ways I hope that they’re not
And their hearts are like mine
Yeah it’s wrong when it seems like work
To belong all I feel is hurt
Oh if God is on my side
Yeah if God is on my side
Oh if God is on my side
Who can be against me
Yeah in this wasteland where I’m livin’
There is a crack in the door filled with light
And it’s all that I need to get by
Yeah in this wasteland where I’m livin’
There is a crack in the door filled with light
And it’s all that I need to shine
Oh if God is on my side
Yeah if God is on my side
Oh if God is on my side
Who can be against me
